Therapy of Will
by Blunt Arrow
Summary: "You know, I enjoyed being a girl. No really, I did. But I guess I'm okay with living like this for now. Well, only if I survive that is." See how a young medical student survives in a do-or-die world. Your everyday OC story with a bit of a twist.
1. Start

"Will!"

Ignore the creature.

"Will!"

Oh, the pains one must make for science.

"Willy!"

Med School projects will not do itself.

"Wilma!"

Screw it.

"Yes, oh dear sister of mine?" I ask sarcastically, turning away from my much loved project toward my very annoying little sister.

"Come on stop ignoring me! You said you'd watch TV with me, not do your stupid homework!" Millie whined.

I groaned looking over to the side of the coffee table my sibling was seated at, curled up on the floor with a few blankets she must have pulled from the couch behind her. Note to self; fold newly cleaned blankets up before mom gets home so she won't know Millie got them on the dirty rug.

"Firstly I am watching TV with you. Glancing up every 15 second toward the screen give me an accurate guess of where the plot line is at this point. My photographic memory make it so that I remember the visuals of what they are doing and linked with the fact I subconsciously memorized all that is being said making it more so easy to follow along with your little Japanese cartoon. This being so I can also tell you that when you dragged me from my room claiming you wanted to 'hang' with me, which is not only a grammatical error but is also symbolically incorrect, but we end up watching TV instead which is really not spending time with each other but more so staring hypnotically at the box that is psychologically not really good for the health of your young mind anyways. See I am a good sist-"

"Shhhhhhhh, this's the best part!" Millie said while slapping a sweaty hand over my face.

"_Mustang!"_

"_Yes Fullmetal?"_

With a mental sigh I peeled the small hand off of my favorite body part (right beside the dear cardiovascular system I was researching) and decided to amuse my sibling by watching her little show for a while till her consciousness became fully integrated in the box-of-physiological-evil and I was able to slyly sneak back to finish the extra-curricular medical report for my dear over worked professor a week before it was due. Me? A keener, as the teenagers call hard workers these days? No, just too smart and too bored.

"_Brother no!"_

"_Stay away Al!"_

At the screams of young people hinting at psychological trauma, I found my head turning upward from the brilliant glow of my work toward the less brilliant glow TV screen to actually look, not just glancing, I _looked _at the screen and saw a young blond boy with a red coat and only one arm holding a very torn up body of armor. Mentally summing up their supposed age (which I gathered from half heartily following the plot-line) and their current state of being, my childish first thought at Edward and Alphonse Elric's condition was 'oh those poor boys'. Which was foolish really, they were cartoon characters. They weren't real, why should I care about their conditions, med school student or not? With that in mind I turned toward her sister.

"You know I don't think that watching two young boys being physically and psychological tortured is something mom would approve of you watching if she knew what this shows contents were. Actually, I don't approve either. This is definitely not something a 9-year-old should be watching. Let's watch that other Japanese cartoon, the one with the blue bear?"

"Well _firstly_ (Wow she's learning from me. She even added an eye roll.) it's called an Anime not a cartoon! Secondly Doraemon is for little kids not me! I wanna watch Fullmetal! It's waaaaaay freaking cooler!" She said to me in an excited fashion, waving her hands around.

"See its already teaching you bad words and improper grammar. Don't roll your eyes at me, that's my thing. For moms sanity you should not even think of being rebellious until you're an actual teenager. Actually, do us all a favor and skip that phase of your life. Another thing to mention, are all little girls this loud?" I ask, ignoring her protests as I turn off the television and head over to the kitchen to bring out the leftover food from the fridge. I was quite pleased when I saw the detailed instructions on how to re-heat the food atop one of the containers, starting with the fact I must take the food out of the things containing it before putting it into the cancer-inducing-machine.

"Hey I'm not loud!... Okay maybe a little. But you can be super loud too-!"

"Preposterous."

"I dunno what that means, but nope!" She prattled on while helping me by setting the table. "Like that one time you were telling mom how to spell con-fishes-!"

"Confucius."

"Ya that thing-!"

"Human male."

"Fine, ya that _guy_. Anyways you were super loud!" She said, grinning at me victoriously as she sat down to the warmed up meal, me at the other end of the table with my own portion. Just as I was about to dig in I caught the hard look she gave me and I put the fork down with a sigh.

"What is it this time?" I ask tiredly, eying my food hungrily.

"We're supposed to say grace! We do it every time mom's here!" She told me with a pout.

"Well as you can see mom is not here so we do not have to say grace if we do not wish it. Do you realize we have this discussion every time moms not here for dinner?" I tell her feeling one of my eyebrows twitch irritably.

"Just making sure you're paying attention Willy." She said grinning at the deadpan look I gave her and probably also at the correct usage of a 'big word'.

* * *

After dinner was done Millie made it a point to bug me until she was allowed to continue to watch her show and be a general little kid (read as fan girl) while doing so. She seemed to have gained a crush on the main character. She also stole my lecture notes and threatened to flush them down the toilet if I told mom about the contents of the show and that she should not be allowed to watch it. Little brat, that damned show was a bad influence, if I wasn't so worried about my med school grade without my notes, I would have told mom. Maybe. Either way her obsession with the show and the TV gave to full rein to go back to my room and finish my project and maybe start the first draft of my term thesis.

"Millie turn that evil thing down!" I yelled angrily after trying and failing to focus on my paper, due to the fact I could hear the dialog from here and my subconscious mind was distracted from memorizing what was being said.

"Loud!"

"Emily!"

"Fine!" She yelled back, finally turning the volume down.

I sighed in happiness at the blissful silence and set myself down to work again… Or at least I tried but I found myself rather tried. Not only that, but for some reason I could stills hear the characters talking, as if I was listening from a great distance. But that was ridiculous, hearing disembodied voices were for those who were mentally disabled and I've not only tested myself, but have officially been tested for different variations of insanity. I must have been overworking myself to the point that I hear disembodied voices, yes that's it. Not insane at all, just tired.

Deciding that the voices would distract me from my work anyways I threw my papers over toward where the rest of my school things were and headed over too my bed, not bothering to change out of my sweats. Flopping down onto my warm comforter, the last thing I remembered before my eyes shut was that something didn't feel quite right…

* * *

"_Ah, I'm glad you asked."_

"_This is everywhere and nowhere."_

"_This is The Gate."_

"_Also known as the Gate of Truth."_

"_Or The Portal."_

"_I am what you humans refer to as the World."_

"_Also known as the Universe."_

"_Or God."_

"_Or All."_

"_Or True Knowledge"_

"_Or One"_

"_But most importantly."_

"_I am you."_

"_Out?"_

"_What should I take?"_

"_What would be enough?"_

"_What is the right price?"_

"_What would finish the equivalent exchange?"_

"_What could you not live without?"_

"_What do you cherish?"_

"_Most of the price has already been paid."_

"_You need to finish it."_

"_So be it."_

"_Let's make this interesting."_

"_Shall we?"_

"_Out you go."_

* * *

The first thing I heard was birds. Birds… chirping… peeping… singing… Birds? Birds? It was Winter. No, Summer now? Clear sound… Wind? Grass?… Outside? Bed?... House?... What?

"Something's not right…" I grumbled, still too tired to even open my eyes.

After a few minutes I knew I could not live in such denial any more. Ignorance is bliss but not kindness, correct? Slowly opening my eye's I lifted up a hand to block out the harsh sunlight that seemed to fill my entire being. After waiting a bit for my eye's to adjust to the change in lighting, I finally got up and took my first good look at my surroundings. All I could tell so far was that I was in a thinly forested area, with no signs of humanity in sight. Working hard to stuff down my building panic I stumbled forward a few steps, trying to get my bearings to no avail.

"Remember the last thing you did, remember the last thing you did… I fell asleep." I said to myself while stumbling over to a nearby tree where I put my back to it and slid down to the ground to put my head between my knees, realizing that this is what you would do when someone was having a nervous breakdown and that I may be having one.

"Keep calm, keep clam, deep breath… Breathe… Good… Now try to remember what you did…" I said to myself again, trying to at least get my blood pressure and heart rate down. "Working on thesis… I got tired? Yes, yes I did. Disembodied voices…" Kidnapping? Ransom? Terrorist? Prank? No, nobody would go through to trouble of pranking me to this level. But I need to find out! I need to find the truth!

At the thought of truth an image of a white being with the body of a teenage girl flashed through my mind.

"_But most importantly."_

"_I am you."_

I gave a great gulp, trying to not puke my guts out. Subconsciously the medical part of me realized that losing valuable liquid in an unknown place with no other known source of drinkable water was a bad idea, so I doubled my efforts of not being sick. That didn't seem like just an odd dream, no 'it' and me being in a very green forest is when its December back home, was connected.

"Got to get away." I mumble as an answer, getting up from my position and stumbling though the forest in a daze. I was most likely still in shock, still in denial. Of what? I don't know yet.

Do you know when you zone out, sometimes, something extra happens to you? You forget where you were, what you were doing, maybe even who you were for awhile and when you get back to reality you're in a horrible daze of unreality? Like what's around you isn't real? Like you're not real and you can't get out of this daze no matter how hard you try? That's how I felt, stumbling through that forest wearing only my old sweats and no shoe's. I had little idea what I was doing. All I knew was that I had to keep going and that I couldn't stop. I had to keep going. I have no idea how long I walked but by the time the forest finally thinned out, it was sunset. I could tell that I was exhausted and that I needed food and water or I would pass out.

I heard a noise that was not part of the forest I grew familiar with in the past while. They sounded like voices, human voices… People! Food! Water! Bed!

I blearily noticed that the landscape in front of me was that of farms and fields. It was actually quite beautiful, the view. Mostly with the image of people running toward me with panicked voices, they must really want to meet me. Unfortunately the ground met me before they had a chance to even shake my hand.

"..Are you okay?!" One of them yelled at me while I was being rolled over. Their faces looked so blurry to me, I could hardly make out how many of them there was. I registered the fact that someone rather large had just picked me up and swung me over their shoulder and started running. Was I being kidnapped?

"Don't worry boy we'll get you to a doctor as soon as we can!" The person carrying me said with a deep voice.

Doctor? I want to be a doctor… A doctor would probably be a good idea for me at the moment too… What else did he say?

….

"Boy?" Was the only thing I said before I sank into darkness.

* * *

**Welcome everyone to the Therapy of Will. Do not worry this is not a self-insert. I would not be so cruel (even though I personally find them funny). But do worry over the fact that this is an OC centric (not mary-sue-ish I would hope) Fanfiction so if you do not like that type of story please kindly leave. But I will tell you one thing. So far I am not planning on this being an OC pairing with a canon character. Well, it really matters on how the story goes, but its unlikely. **

**You see I've had a crave lately. I love OC insert fanfictions. I think I just find it funny how they interact with other characters. But I've noticed a severe lack on male main OC characters (maybe because it seems like most fanfic writers are female) and I really wanted one. So I decided to make one. But I decided to identity crisis it up a bit, you know? Make it interesting.**

**Cheers,**

**Blunt Arrow**


	2. Phases

"You have to eat sometime."

I stopped the scratching of my pen at those words. Damned man, I was able to ignore the grumbling of my stomach up until he came to interrupt my work.

"No I don't. Go away."

"Those papers won't go anywhere, I promise. I'll even watch over them myself while you go have your first meal in over twenty-four hours."

"On the verge of a great medical discovery. Your distractions are not appreciated. Leave."

"You know, as a great medical researcher I'm sure you can appreciate that these _distractions_ are the only thing that's keeping you from collapsing, thus helping you do the project that _can_ wait fifteen minutes while you eat."

"... Fine." I reluctantly grumbled out, putting my pen down to turn my chair around and give him a hard look. "But I expect there to be no more distractions until the project is done."

He actually had the audacity to smirk at me.

"Of course _sir_, you shouldn't expect anything less." He said as I cleared a spot so he could put the tray of steaming hot (deliciousyummygood) food onto my disorganized desk.

"Good." I grunted as I waited for him to leave, not going to give him the pleasure of seeing how I'm surely going stuff the food into my face.

With a small wave he started walking away, but just as I felt satisfied enough to turn back toward my cluttered desk I heard his footsteps stop at the door.

"That being said sir; I won't be delivering your bi-hourly coffee in hopes to not disturb you."

At that threat (because it couldn't be anything but the cruelest of threats) I quickly turned my chair back towards the door to give him my most threatening glare.

"You wouldn't dare." I told him, hoping that I sounded more dangerous than panicked.

"It's been good working with you for the past month Knot." He said to me with a smirk as he quickly exited my study, knowing what was coming.

"Come back here Ivo!" I yelled to no avail. He was long gone.

I felt my fingers curl around the arms of my chair in annoyance. Damn that aid.

I'll get him for this.

* * *

Ulfrig Ivo held back an amused chuckled as he heard his 'boss' yell at him through the thick wooden door of his study. Really, that kid was too much sometimes.

'Or at least too much for the three aids before me' He mused. Sticking his hands in his pockets Ulfrig couldn't help but contemplate the unique existence that was a certain Wilbur Knot. He was actually a nice person to be around on a good day, able to carry on an interesting conversation for a while, overall polite, and actually spends at least 5 minutes outside. But unfortunately for Ulfrig, and his peers at times, this was not a good day for Knot. Actually it was more along the lines of a hellish week for the kid.

'Maybe because this wasn't the project he wanted to do.' Ulfrig thought, knowing he was right. The only reason that Knot was doing this horribly last minute project is so that he could get the funding and the support for the big experiment he really wanted to do, the one he's been prepping for quite a while now.

Deciding not to think about too much, it was really none of his business anyways, Ulfrig's mind and feet wandered toward the cafeteria and the food it held. He really couldn't decide between getting an actual meal or just a sandwich. Entering the bustling cafeteria Ulfrig was only half surprise to be greeting by clapping coming from the table he usually occupied. He was pleasantly surprised to find a steaming hot meal, not unlike the one he gave Knot a while ago, waiting for him at his usual spot.

Ulfrig eagerly sat down, ignoring the slaps on his back from his friends, and dug in.

"You did it man! You actually got him too eat!"

"And you got back in one piece too!"

"What'd you have to do? Threaten his coffee?"

"Atuly wvht dud."

"What? Swallow Frig"

"Eeew don't talk with your mouth open!"

"S'rry." Ulfrig said, gulping down his food. "I actually did, y'know, threaten his coffee. Except that's not how I got him to eat."

"Really?" Leonard, who was sitting directly across from him, asked curiously leaning into the table a bit. "How?"

It was no surprise to Ulfrig that Leonard was curious about how he got Knot to eat. After all, Len was one of the aids meant to help Knot before Ulfrig, but had little success with the hard headed kid.

"I used his own logic against him." Not really, but close enough.

"But I tried that too! He just ignored me!"

"Ya, that's what he usually does to me when I try that tactic, when it doesn't work I just leave the food beside him." Frig said with a shrug.

"But whenever I did that he usually just ignored it and lets the food get cold!" Len yelled, getting a bit frantic.

"You have to make the food really smell good and get the stuff you can eat with only a fork. Nothing too messy either." Ulfrig informed his friend sagely.

"Oh that's why. I usually just got him scrambled eggs and soup cause they were healthy."

"You got him eggs!? He told me on my first day that he hated the stuff!"

"You got him the same thing everyday? I take what I said about him back, he's some sort of saint for not firing Len after the first week"

"Wow that's really stupid."

"That's why he Knot was in such a bad mood that month."

"No that was because the board refused to fund another one of his 'projects'"

"Pfft."

Ulfrig rolled his eyes at his friend's antics and how Leonard had his head buried in his hands, face red with embarrassment.

"Wait, so why is there some kid working for the University? How the heck is he important enough to get aids?" A newer student asked, seemingly taking pity on Leonard by changing the subject.

"Cause he's a little genius." Ulfrig answered after swallowing another bite.

"Like that kid who became a State Alchemist when he was 12?"

"'Cept our midget's older."

"Shut it Len."

"How did he become so important? He hasn't been around that long right?"

"Ya, it's only been a little over half a year since he came to the University. From what I heard he just came here one day claiming to have ground breaking medical discoveries that needed to be looked at. Of course no one believed him at first, but he was persistent enough for Professor Nostrum to get curious. The old man took one look at the document and claimed the kid was a genius." Ulfrig told them, pleased to see that he had their undivided attention. "Soon most of the professors read the thing and they all agreed with Nostrum, the kid was officially a medical protégé that the school wanted. They got him a job as a researcher and told him to go make them money. Ironic since they don't fund any of his research. Old geezer Nostrum was 'lucky' enough to claim the kid as his ward, since Knots too young to sign legal documents. But the old guy had no idea how to take care of a kid and Knot sure as hell can't take care of himself, so they got him aids."

"So you're pretty much his nanny."

"Yup."

"So what do you have to do?"

"Pretty much just making sure he eats, sleeps and does his work. The last one is easy, the other two, not so much."

"Oh cry me a river; I know your getting your volunteer hours with this." Leonard said a bit bitterly, while everyone's heads whipped around to look at him, eyes green with envy. Ulfrig just smirked, knowing that for regular East City University Medical School students one of the hardest things to do was finish your mandatory volunteer hours on top of the regular load of school work. Ulfrig knew he had it easy as long as Knot continued to eat and sleep. Then all he really had to do was give him his meals twice a day. Ulfrig was _supposed_ to help Knot with his research too, but the kid hardly ever asked for help, only a bit on insight every once in a while because of Ulfrig's major.

"Dam it, both of you have an unfair advantage."

"Ya, he's a genius and you're mooching offa him."

"Okay I get how you make him eat, but how'd you make him sleep?" Leonard asked, cutting off other complaining.

"Because he cut off Knot's coffee right?"

"Yup." Ulfrig said, nodding to the newbie. "Either he'll pass out from lack of sleep and caffeine, or he'll finally get out of that study to get his own, which is unlike-."

"The second one."

Ulfrig prided himself with the fact that he didn't jump as badly as Leonard, or anyone else for that matter, when a tired looking Wilbur Knot suddenly appeared at the end of their table, steaming mug of coffee in hand. You didn't have to have a trained medical eye to see that the young man was tired enough to fall asleep on the floor instantly if he wished.

The entire table was frozen solid as the kids eyes swept over them all, only to land on a sweating Leonard, who paled instantly. Thankfully for him all Knot did was give him a curt nod before training his bloodshot eyes on Ulfrig in an unnerving fashion.

"Project almost done. Don't bother. Dead to world."

Ulfrig knew that Knot _must_ have been tired to have chopped up his sentences and mess up his grammar like that.

Watching Knot walk away in a zombie like fashion, the only thing Ulfrig could think was 'I'm glad to be me and not him.'

* * *

I think that I honestly hate birds. They always seem to be able to wake me up at the brink of dawn. Shut up stupid birds, shuuuuut uuuuuuup. I've had to work none-stop for almost 4 days, let me sleeeeeeep.

Great now I have to use the little boy's room.

"That's still too weird." I grumbled as I got out of my warm bed and into the world, the cold wooden floor almost instantly chilling me. Grabbing a smaller blanket nearby and wrapping it around my shoulders I headed to the other side of my room to where the bathroom was located. After (uncomfortably) doing my business I headed toward the main part of my rooms, the study, knowing it was no use to try to go back to sleep and it was too early for the cafeteria to be serving food. Looking around my study I had to admit that I had it good for an (mostly) independent kid my age. Free food, roof over my head, job of my dreams in the most advanced medical building in the country, yup I had it good. If only I was in my own world, with my family.

With that glum thought I sat down at my worn desk in my disorganized but well used study, deciding for once that work could wait a bit while I brooded.

It's almost been two years since I came to Amestris in the body of a young male. Two years and still no answers, not that I've really been looking that hard, actually I pretty much accepted the fact that I'm stuck this way, in this world. But I usually try to not think about any of this, drowning myself in work to keep distracted.

'At least the denial isn't as bad as my first month.' I thought to myself with a weary smirk.

The kind family that had helped me were the only people I had a fond thought of in this world if only because they put up with the ball of crazy that was a former Wilma Knot in their hands. Not only did they just put up with me, they even help me through those hard three weeks, even if they had no idea what caused it. I remember each of the little phases I had.

The first three days after my initial recovery was spent in shock.

Day one I was as still as a statue, simply not comprehending what was happening. Day two I was still in a silent daze, simply wandering around the living room I was sleeping in, or at least on the outside, on the inside I was in fight-or-flight mode, hyper aware of everything around me to the point of distraction. The last day I recovered enough to eat on my own, but psychologically I was the same, and near the end of the day I had to go the bathroom on my own.

That's when my four days of denial came into place.

After the initial panic attack at going to the bathroom, I spent most of the next day rather normally, wandered around the family's house, helped the mother with a few chores, not much, but better. I still hadn't said a word so the family initially called me 'boy' or 'young man' until the meaning of those words sunk in a little and I became sick each time they called me one of those. After that I was known as 'kid' (even though I was older than their kids).

The denial didn't get that bad until the second day, when they decided I recovered enough to be more informed about my surroundings. With that idea in mind, the two boys dragged me outside to show me their sheep farm. I found myself vaguely interested, I had never been on an animal farm before, until they showed me their barn and with pride they said 'our friends Ed and Al fixed it for us'. I remember feeling very sick and asking what the name of this place was. The boys seemed overjoyed that I spoke and the younger one excitedly told me that 'we're in Resembool'. At this revelation I had a horrible flashback of a young boy without an arm and leg, bleeding to death, and fainted.

I re awoke the next day in full denial. I spent lots of my time with my eyes closed, refusing to eat, going nowhere near the bathroom, avoided mirrors like the plague and avoided the family in general. But the next day I noticed that the family was avoiding _me._ They told me later it was because they thought I needed my space, but I had thought that they hated me for being so rude. I immediately sought them out to apologize, explaining to them that I was probably going through phases of post traumatic stress disorder. I still refused to tell them anything else; I was still a bit in denial. That night I decided that I was over and done with that phase.

Things got better with my seven days of acceptance.

First thing I did the next morning was spend over two hours in the bathroom, simply exploring my new body for the first time. I was still a tad terrified of my new genitals but I had to admit that I was pleased with other new parts of my body. For one, I lost my breasts. While most girls would be horrified with the loss of their chests, I was quiet relived. I didn't have overly large breasts for my size or weight, but I had always found them annoying. The second thing I found pleasing was that I grew taller, I wasn't a tall or short girl for my age, but the extra height is still nice. I might have grown stronger, but not eating and sleeping correctly for a week probably made me lose whatever muscle I gained as a girl. But the absolute best thing about being turned into a boy, I realized then, was that I would never have to suffer a period again.

With that thought in mind I had practically bounced out of the bathroom at greeted the family just as they sat down for breakfast (I had gotten up early so I wouldn't disturb them) and promptly told them they could call me Will. To say they were surprised was an understatement. After that the mother claimed I had recovered enough and had gotten sick of my body odor (I haven't cleaned myself since Earth) and ordered the father to throw me into a nearby stream. I couldn't find myself to care all that much; I was disgusted by my own stench too.

After that I got a routine going to help myself recover and things almost had a feeling of normalcy for a few days. Sure, I still had sudden bought of depression and denial, but other than that I was getting by.

But on the seventh day one of the boys came yelling to their father, who was teaching me how to chop firewood, that one of the sheep broke their leg. After witnessing the two speed away, I felt a twinge in my mind at the mention of a medical situation and followed after them at a slower pace. By the time I arrived at the sheep pen the father was explaining to his sobbing son that they couldn't afford to get a vet to help the sheep so they had to put it out of its misery. I'm a daze I stepped in an offered my help. They were dubious at first, not that I expected anything else since I showed that I was incapable at nearly everything they had me do (I was turning out to be a wimpy guy), but the father decided to let me give it a try. I immediately listed off everything I needed and the boys (the older one just joined us), eager to save their beloved sheep, rushed off to get it. In the meantime I began prepping the poor sheep, feeling lucky its shock wasn't too bad yet and it was generally staying still. By the time the boys got back with the items I needed, I was ready. Like I had done it a million times before, I started treating the wound, wishing to myself that I had an x-ray to tell what kind of break it was, but ended up finishing quicker than I expected.

The family was shocked but pleased at this development and thanked me profoundly for my service. I accepted the thanks and I, still in a daze, immediately went to seek isolation. When I was by myself I came to terms with the fact that I was stagnating; not allowing myself to go forward but also not able to go back, unmoving. But helping that sheep reminded me of what I did back home, what my goal in life was; to be in the medical career field. I realized that even in this new world, I still had a goal to work for, a challenge to overcome. A reason to keep moving forward.

My five days of discovery started with me cutting off all my hair.

When I was a girl had had your regular medium length hair, it stayed that way when I came to Amestris. I knew to accept the fact I was a male, I had to become one. It really wasn't that hard of a decision, I was no girly-girl, but at the same time I was no tomboy, I was sort of plainly in-between. I could live with being a boy. But the family was sure surprised. Not as surprised as I expected, I think they had gotten use to my oddness by then, but still surprised at the lack of hair I was sporting. I spent the rest of my days there bugging them for different information on this world; I even got the boys to take me to their school. As soon as I learned about the prestigious University in East City, which claimed to have the best medical research faculty in the world, I knew that I had to go there. I didn't want to burden the family that had treated me so kindly; I felt three weeks was already over staying my welcome. I had also regained my thirst for knowledge, a thirst that needed to be quenched.

The last two days were spent planning

I immediately told the family of my plans and I was pleasantly surprised of the support I received. They seemed to have been under the impression that you could get into a prestigious medical University just by being able to fix a broken leg, not that I was complaining, the support was nice. But I was astounded when they offered to pay for the train ticket. I, of course, refused them at first knowing that they could hardly afford such a thing but the father then wisely asked which other way I was going to get to the East. I grudgingly accepted the money and was on the train the very next day.

* * *

I was suddenly interrupted from my string of memories by a knock on the door.

"Knot?" I heard Ivo ask nervously. Well that's odd, I've never heard him have that tone of voice before, and what is he doing here so early? Just how long have I been sitting here for?

"Yes? What is it?" I ask him, back still to the door due to the fact I looked like I just jumped out of bed.

"There's some, uh, people from the army here to see you."

I had to stop the urge to look at him in surprise. Have they read the proposal already? I only gave that paper to Nostrum about ten hours ago, the army was never this fast with these kinds of things, so why? But I guess there's no reason to complain if the army finally showed interest in my research.

"Give me three minutes." I said quickly as I rushed to my bedroom, not even bothering to hear Ivo's confirmation. In two minutes I had changed into my casual slacks, dress shirt and lab coat, slicked back my bangs into their spikes atop my head and tried to organize my study so there would be enough room for officials. By the time Ivo opened the door to let the army men in, I was calmly sitting in my chair facing toward the door.

But these weren't the people I was expecting at all. Ooooh no.

Imagine my astonishment when the Flame Alchemist himself walked through my door, the Fullmetal and his brother right behind him.

I had a feeling this wasn't going to be about my proposal.

* * *

**Sorry if this chapter was a bit boring, but I just had to explain things a bit.**

**Oh and I thought it would be in everyone's best interests to inform you that I am most definitely not a med student, or a ****psychologist or skilled in any type of science whatsoever. Just thought I'd let you know in case I screwed up some medical/psychological/alchemy fact. I am no expert. Not at all. Just warning you.**

**Well, either way, I hoped you enjoyed this story so far.**

**Cheers,**

**Blunt Arrow**


	3. Suprises

Shifting through various documents on his desk, Colonel Roy Mustang couldn't hold back a sigh. Oh how he hated paper work. Report, report, finances, Mustang really couldn't find anything interesting to look at, it was all the same thing really. He had half the mind to call up one if his girls, Lucia or Barbra maybe, for a bit of a chat. But no, he wanted to avoid hiring someone to fill in the bullet holes that would appear in his walls if Lt. Hawkeye walked in on him. Oh the shame, back to paper work. So Colonel Roy Mustang, the Flame Alchemist and Hero of Ishval, spent the next three hours doing tearfully boring paper work. It wasn't until he came to the bottom of the stack that he found something he thought was vaguely interesting. There, sitting innocently on his desk, was a file with a handwritten note on top of it.

Instantly recognizing the penmanship, Mustang had to withhold another sigh. Sometimes Colonel Maes Hughes found it amusing to send him information on completely random (and useless) things, actually expecting Mustang to read them. Knowing Hughes would ask him later on what his thoughts on the documents were and knowing Maes's reactions(raising hell, then gushing about his daughter) whenever Mustang tells him that he hardly even glanced at the dammed files, the Flame Alchemist knew that he had to at least read the first page or so. Roy just hoped it wasn't another news article on dog fertilization methods.

With long practiced ease Mustang grabbed the note and, not even bothering to read it, threw into the garbage then flipped open the file. He was surprised when the first thing that caught his eye was a name. That's odd, before now Hughes never sent him a military profile in this fashion. With a small frown Mustang put down the file and retrieved the written note. As he expected most of the note was Hughes gushing about his daughter and wife, but thankfully Mustang was easily able to see when that portion ended. Near the bottom of the note were a few sentences about the document.

'By the way, I thought you and the squirt would find this kid interesting. He's a little genius, just like Ed and Al, that the Eat City University Medical School picked up and is a whiz at pretty much everything medical. Supposedly he's trying to get military support on post war trauma research project he wants to run.

Hope paper work doesn't kill you Roy-boy.

Maes Hughes'

That man… Just because Mustang's the superior of a child protégé does not mean that he's interested in every overly smart child in Amestris. Though, it was probably best to humor his fellow Colonel so Roy reached over to the file, flipped it open again, and began reading.

Awhile later Mustang closed the file and rested his chin on his interlaced fingers while a small smirk slowly grew on his face.

"Well, well, well." He said in a contemplative voice. "Won't this be interesting?"

* * *

I thought it was best to remind myself at this time, that it was _my sister _who loved the anime. It was _my sister _who memorized the entire plot line. It was _my sister _who had gotten a crush on Edward Elric. My sister was the nerd.

I was the geek.

I was the one who only watched, maybe, two episodes. I was the one who spent most of her childhood reading complicated adult books. I was the one who was too busy in med school to really enjoy my youth. I was the one who crossed dimensions and switched genders.

I was the one who got his/her brain scrambled when arriving in Amestris, thus, forgetting what little I knew about the show (amongst other things). Honestly, all I remember of the plotline is that the two Elric brothers, Alphonse and Edward, lose their body parts (or something like that) somehow and have a big adventure searching for the Philosophers Stone. There are a few other details, such as other characters and their names, but that's pretty much it.

So when three main characters of the anime world I was in walked through my door, I did not do as my sister would have done, she called it 'fan-girling' once, nor did I do what other fans of this show with a sense of justice would have done. I may have been very limited in my childhood cartoon watching, but I do know enough that the main characters always get into a lot of shi- trouble. Trouble I did not want to be a part of. I may not know the story, but I do know most shows such as this one have a happy ending, and will continue with that happy whether I'm here or not. Actually it would be much more likely to get that happy ending if I wasn't here.

Thus, instead of looking at these people with awe, or fear, or panic, I just gave them a steady look of wariness.

That look remained unwavering as they all crowded into my small, messy, study. I noted that Edward Elric immediately picked up one of the documents I wrote and, leaning against a book shelf, started reading it, while Alphonse Elric remained behind Mustang, probably due to lack of space. Catching the eye of Colonel Mustang, I immediately stood up and shook his extended hand.

"Good morning to you." He greets me politely. "I am Colonel Mustang and this is my subordinate, State Alchemist Edward Elric, and his brother Alphonse."

"Ah, yes, my name is Wilbur Knot and I am a researcher here at the University." I said as we ended the handshake, barely noticing Ivo leave the room. "It's nice to meet you."

"Likewise." He replies to me with a very fake smile. Edward Elric (was he really reading?) gave a small cough, probably hinting to get a move on, and Alphonse Elric shifted in the awkward silence.

"The Colonel is here to give you a proposition, my boy." Professor Nostrum, whom I had not noticed up until now (I blame the hulking set of armor), said, giving me a small shock.

I raised an eyebrow at the old Professor. So this may have been about my proposal after all, since I could see no other reason for them to be visiting me, but it was still rather odd.

"Yes, I've heard that you have done research on biological alchemy." At this the Elric brother's heads snapped toward Mustang(I knew Edward Elric wasn't really reading) then turned their eye's toward me and I suddenly felt the atmosphere in the room change. "And that you've tried to get in touch with Shou Tucker for an interview without success."

True I have done a steady amount of research on alchemy, but how couldn't I? It's like a scientist discovering magic was real, you had to at least dabble in it to see its components, and biological/medical alchemy was perfect for me.

"Yes, I have done a small amount of research on that subject, and even started a project or two. I mostly focused on what little I could get on medical alchemy." I admitted. "But unfortunately without the help of Mr. Tucker I had to shelve the subject entirely."

"Ah yes, I remember that little phase." Professor Nostrum said with a chuckle and I and I felt my shoulders rise in defense. "You were so frustrated that you had to give up alchemy because you could hardly draw a straight line that you brooded for an entire week."

"Also." I said a bit loudly to defend my manly pride (bleh), since both Colonel Mustang and Edward Elric snorted. "Another reason I was unable to complete my research was due the fact that I had no knowledge of certain sciences needed to perform alchemy and not enough time to learn all of it. Also I had little luck in the base skills needed to complete transmutation." That being Comprehension, Deconstruction and Reconstruction, skills you needed at least a bit of natural talent to do. Natural talent that I seem to lack. So there. No magic for me.

"Be you are still interested in the theory of biological alchemy and the psychological effects of chimeric alchemy, correct?" Mustang inquires and continues at my hesitant nod. "Then I have the perfect opportunity for you. You see Edward and Alphonse have been given permission by Mr. Tucker to do research in his private library. I'm sure that if you tagged along he would allow you to use it too."

The way he said it, so cheerfully with a smile on his face, made me immediately suspicious. I was just about to refuse using the 'oh, I only like doing one project at a time' excuse (which is bull, I've juggled several projects at the same time before) but the Professor spoke up before I could even open my mouth.

"Why he would love too!" Nostrum said joyfully, clapping his hands. "A researcher on Wilbur here's caliber would never let such an opportunity pass. Most alchemists guard their secrets so jealously that academics like us never even get a peek! This is simply marvelous!"

Don't hurt yourself there professor.

"Splendid! Then I'm sure Doctor Knot wouldn't mind assisting Fullmetal in the meantime as payment?" Mustang was all smiles.

"Wait, what-?"

"Um, I'm not sure-."

"What the hell Mustang?!"

"Of course, of course, no problem at all! Well boy, I expect astounding results! Now I must be going, very busy man I am. Good day to you Colonel, Major, Mr. Elric. Stay out of trouble Wilbur." And without further ado, Professor Nostrum exited the area.

"Professor wait, I never-!"

"Bastard, we never agreed to this!"

"Brothers right Colonel, a bit of notice would have been nice."

"Doctor Knot's assistance will aid you in your search, I'm sure." Mustang's demeanor switched as soon as the Professor left, to a cool and calm persona, regarding us with a critical eye. "The Doctor is in an expert in area's that you and Tucker have no knowledge of Fullmetal. He may see things that you miss."

"Well, does he even wanna come?!"

At that comment all eyes were on me again, awaiting my answer. Damn those Alchemists, forcing me to make such a hard decision on the spot. Either I agree to go and possibly get killed, or refuse and miss out on gaining valuable knowledge. This was like waving a turkey, which may or may not give you food poisoning, in front of a starving man's face. Just plain cruel.

Death… Bleh. But secret knowledge… Mmmmmmh… Grrrrrrrrr… Ugh. Screw it.

"I'll come." I decide grudgingly. "Just give me a minute."

* * *

As I stalked to my bedroom I had to resist the childish urge to slam the door.

I deliberately took my time taking off my lab coat and putting on my dark brown trench coat (favorite one, instead of buttons it had buckles on its front and sleeves). After that I changed my shoes for my short comfortable beige walking boots (hardly ever used), grabbed the light brown book bag hanging on a chair and headed back to the other room. During this entire process I had to work hard to ignore the hushed argument that was happening in the study.

"We don't need some random guy helping us Mustang! Al and I can do it just fine on our own!"

"That's not the only reason I want him assisting you."

"Then why?!"

"He's a graduated doctor."

"What the hell does that have to do with anything?!"

"It's always useful for a solider to have a medic around Fullmetal."

"… I agree with the Colonel, Big Brother."

"What? Al why?"

"Because-."

"Excuse me." I said as I had to nudge all around them to get the notes I would need for Mr. Tuckers place, noting the fact that they stopped their 'discussion' as soon as I entered the room. Their argument confused me for a reason just I can't put my finger on.

Putting my book bag full of notes onto my shoulder, I turned to face them. "I'm ready." I said as I braced myself for what's to come.

* * *

About ten minutes later I found myself sitting in a military car, shifting uncomfortably beside the Flame Alchemist, in total silence. Colonel Mustang was reading some documents (I dare not look), Edward Elric was looking out his window in a bored fashion and Alphonse Elric seemed to be simply staring at his knees.

I took the chance to subtlety study the mysterious boys in front of me. I knew from what little I remembered from the plotline that the boys lost parts of their bodies and replaced them with some sort of futuristic engineering, but I find myself only barely remembering that Edward Elric lost his left leg and right arm in some accident. Alphonse Elric on the other hand, well I have to admit that I almost remember nothing of him. So that brings up the question for me of what exactly did he lose?

"Um, excuse me, if you don't mind me asking, Alphonse Elric is the older one of you two, correct?" I try to inquire politely as possible.

"No." Edward Elric says as I see a vein on his forehead throb, his eyebrows furrow together in barley restrained anger, and I swear I could actually see Alphonse Elric sweat. "I'M the older Elric brother."

"Oh. I see then, thank you Major Elric." They seemed to have been expecting a different answer as both brothers calmed down immediately and continued to look at the passing scenery (or knees). I, of course, already knew who the older one was. I had to confirm just in case they were pretending Alphonse was older due to his size (his voice would give themselves away anyways). Something was obviously up with that, if judging by both of the brother's ages it should be almost physically impossible for a boy Alphonse Elric's age to be the size he is, even with the help of growth steroids, and I'm pretty sure those don't exist in this world.

"Don't call me that." Edward Elric said suddenly, pulling me out of my thoughts. At my clueless look he just frowns. "Major, I mean. Call me Edward since you can't be more than a year older than me."

"And you can just call me Alphonse." The giant suit of armor, which I still don't really get, says, pointing to himself.

"Okay then." I concede, though really didn't know how to converse with other people in my age group, let alone get along with them. "You may- you _can_ call me Wilbur then."

Just as I was sure one of them was going to answer me, maybe even try to keep a conversation going, the car stopped.

Looking out the window I knew that we had just arrived at the Tucker residence.

* * *

**Bleh, short chapter. A good amout of information sharing, even though I suck at the whole 'describe the setting and what the character is wearing and/or looks like', so I usually try to outright avoid it.**

**Anyways, just how much BS'ing can you spot Mustang sprouting to make Will come along? Not much admittedly, but enough. Just to let you know, the talk Mustang had with Edward and Al about Shou Tucker happened before they went to see Wilbur and Mustang obviously thinks that poor Will already knows all of that information.**

**See you next chapter.**

**Cheers,**

**Blunt Arrow**


	4. Nina

"Well this is quite the… Impressive house."

"Ya, it's pretty damn big."

I was more trying to be nice in saying the filthy exterior of the house really wasn't that bad, but I had to agree with Edward, who was walking a step or two ahead of me, that it was quite large. But it really did need a repainting.

As the Colonel rang the doorbell I couldn't help but look around in wonder. I was really here, after almost a month of sending Mr. Tucker letters, begging him for one simple interview only to get almost one word responses of refusal, I was finally at the home of the Sewing-Life Alchemist. I sure hope it was worth the stress of being around the Elric's. What one must do for science…

Due to my wandering thoughts I almost didn't notice the giant ball of fur barreling toward us. Thankfully I was able to smell the prudent stench of canine right before it reached me and I did a clever back step to avoid it. Or, at least if would have been clever if I was its target.

"Gyaaaaaaaaaa!" Rang the cry of a certain Edward Elric as the dog pummeled him.

"B-brother!" Alphonse said as he crouched over Edward, who was face first on the ground with the dog merrily lying on top of him. I had to stifle a smile.

"Hey! Alexander stops that!" a little girl's voice said. "Wow, lots of guests Daddy!"

Looking toward the now opened door I saw a young girl with two long braids, who had probably been the one who yelled, looking to be around the age of four, and a bespectacled man who seemed to be in his early forties standing in the doorway.

"Nina, don't do that. The dogs supposed to be tied up." The man who I assume to be Shou Tucker said, gently scolding Nina, the loud little girl.

"Ah, yes welcome, I had received word from the military about your arrival." Tucker said after noticing us. "Nina go play with your dog, Daddy has work to do."

"Okay Daddy." Nina says in a disappointed voice, but soon brightens up as she started running away. "Come on Alexander! Let's go play!"

And with that the 'Alexander' dog quickly got off the struggling Edward and follows the little girl around a corner. If the dog didn't act so damn friendly I would be worried about it eating her.

"About time." Edward grumbles as he gets up, brushing dirt off of himself.

"Sorry about that." Mr. Tucker says apologetically, scratching the back of his head. "Please come in, you all can take a seat in the parlor while I get us some tea."

A moment later we were all seated and us kids looking around the room with interest while Mustang just looked patiently on ahead. The interior of the house was an even bigger mess than the exterior, but it's not like I could complain. After all, my rooms would have had its own life forms growing in it, if it wasn't for my aids. At least one of them ends up bugging me to clean it in each of their terms of services, and I sure as hell wasn't going to let them touch my research.

"I am so sorry. Because my wife left me, the house has been like this." Mr. Tucker apologizes again as he puts steaming cups of tea in front of us.

"That's quiet alright." Mustang says formally as Tucker sits down across from us. "You already know me, but shall I introduce Doctor Wilbur Knot, a researcher at East City University Medical School, Alphonse Elric and his brother State Alchemist-."

"Edward Elric." Edward interrupts as Mustang gestured to him for his own introduction.

I tuned out the rest of the conversation as I finally realize, just why are the brothers researching bio-alchemy? I knew it was a little foolish of me to just begin to ask that question, due to the fact I am supposed to assist them in the researching for this mysterious thing. This had better not take too long…

"Mr. Tucker does have a point, and Wilbur has to know if he's gonna help us." Edward said, catching my attention, as he started pulling off his coat.

"My god…" Mr. Tucker's words mirrored my thoughts as I openly starred at Edwards's mechanical arm. Of course there were people with automail coming to the University to get treatments, but I had never had a chance to really look at one up till now. "And this is what the 'Fullmetal Alchemist' has to show."

"Also …" I starred transfixed as Alphonse lifted up his helmet…

… Only to reveal nothing inside.

In the back of my mind I registered the slam my chair made as I got up and quickly made my way over to the empty suit of armor. As soon as I reached it (noting the arms were still moving) I grabbed onto it, roughly turned it toward me, and peered in. Totally empty, until I looked up a bit, too see an alchemic symbol drawn in what would appear to be blood.

"This is…" I hear myself say, momentarily stunned, hands shaking and sweat beading my forehead.

"Uh- um, Wilbur."

"Get the fuck off of him!"

"Please, everyone, calm down!"

"Doctor Knot, please get a hold of yourself and release Alphonse."

"… Absolutely fascinating!" I finish with stars in my eyes, still gripping on the armor that seems to be Alphonse Elric himself.

"What…?" Seemed to be the collective response.

"Tell me Alphonse, is your soul somehow lodged into this suit of armor? Or is there another reason for this?"

"N-no? Wait, yes?"

"I see! Amazing! Just the discovery of the fact that souls actually exist is fascinating! How are you creating sound waves used to talk? If your head is disconnected like that do you still see out of it or do you see from somewhere else? If so, where and at what point of view? If one were to add, say another arm to the armor would you be able to use it? Or what if the seal was transferred to another body of metal, like a metal animal, would you be able to control that? Wait, would it even need to be metal? If I were to put the seal on an animal would you be able to control it? No, its soul would most likely resist you. What about a dead body-?"

"Er, um I don't really know?"

"That's disgusting."

"-No then you may have to worry about decay. I assume you have no need for eating or sleeping yes? Do you remember the sensations of that? What exactly do you remember from before this? How long ago did this happen? Wait- _why_ did it happen? How? Was there some sort of ritual involved? Judging by the symbol here it was alchemy. But why is it in blood? Was it demonic? Wait- Alphonse did you die? You brothers didn't seem like the necromancy type. Well, I guess most alchemists are odd like that." By that point I was almost smiling.

"YOU'RE the odd one!"

"Please let me go…"

"Yes, as amusing your little rant was Doctor, I think it's about time to return to your seat so Fullmetal can answer at least a few of your questions." Mustang says, breaking me out of my scientific bliss. I swear the bastar- jerk must be smirking.

Muttering a few apologies to Alphonse I scurried back to my chair, head down in shame and blushing madly, picked it back up and sat down. I can't believe I said something like that in a room full of alchemists.

"I remember where I heard your name from now." Mr. Tucker said, and I looked up a bit to find him addressing me. "You're that researcher who tried to get in contact with me about a year ago for an interview. Sorry about having to refuse you, I found that it's not good for an ordinary researcher to learn the secrets of bio-alchemy or chimera's. But now I see that you are not just any ordinary researcher, no not at all. Though, you are much different than who I imagined you to be."

"I'm guessing older?"

"Precisely. But since the Colonel trusts you to use this knowledge wisely, I will trust you as well." Mr. Tucker says, smiling at me. "Oh, I'm sorry Edward, you were about to explain something?"

Smooth Mr. Tucker, smooth. Happy to have to attention off of me, I turn toward Edward to see him visibly steeling himself for something. I begin to listen patiently as Edward starts to tell us a story.

* * *

Near the end of this said 'story' I was feeling distinctly horrified. Human Transmutation, their mother, losing not only limbs but an entire body, a blood seal, Alphonse's soul… I'm feeling like a complete jerk for asking a few of those questions. God, this is why they're looking into bio-alchemy. But what does this have to do with the Philosophers Stone? Isn't them trying to find it the entire point of the series? Or was it to get their bodies back? Damn scrambled brain.

"I see, your mother." Mr. Tucker says in a remorseful voice. "It must have been painful."

"Because our superiors have been told that his body was lost during the East Civil War, I am asking you to not mention anything about the Human Transmutation incident." Mustang explains to Tucker.

"Yes that's fine with me." The Sewing-Life Alchemist says with a nod as he gets up from his chair. "I know it would be pointless for the military as well to let go of this kind of talent."

"In that case…" He says as he starts walking away, making a 'follow me' motion as he goes, and all of us got out of our chairs to follow. "I'm not sure if this will be helpful, but let's take a look at my lab, shall we?"

Soon after following him we headed into a darkly lighten room filled with different dead and alive animal specimens, all looking as if they had been tampered with in some way.

"Oops, this is quiet embarrassing." I register Mr. Tucker saying as I study some of the live chimera's in their cages. "I'm told I'm the authority on chimera's by quite a few people, but to be honest, I really can't say I'm all that great."

At that Mr. Tucker lead us out of the laboratory and back into the hall. It's too bad, I would have liked to study those chimera's a while longer.

"This is my file room." Tucker says as he opens another door.

"Woooooooow!" Edward says, matching my thoughts, as we peer into the large room, stacked full of files. It was geek heaven.

"Feel free to take a look at them as much as you want." Mr. Tucker says to use as we peer at the shelves, already looking at the titles. "I'll be in the lab."

"Righto, I'll start from these shelves." Edward says as he starts pulling books and files from a shelf.

"Then I'll handle the ones over here." Alphonse replies.

"Taking the shelf around the corner. I'll take notes on anything I think would be useful to your cause." I tell them as I walk over to the shelf I designated for myself. I barley heard Alphonse's confirmation as I opened a book and was swept into its depths.

* * *

The one thing I find annoying about researching or learning something new, is that I can't use my eidetic memory to its fullest potential. Usually I would just glance at a page for a second or two and it would be generally stored into my memory for when I need it, but with researching I actually have to READ to let it sink in, or else I won't process it enough to learn anything. Having to take notes was also a pain. Right when I start getting a reading flow going, I find a good piece of information and have to stop to write it down; breaking the good flow I had, and am forced to start all over again.

"AAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Whaaa!" I yelled as the huge scream startled me enough to knock over the giant stack of books I had built beside myself, making them painfully fall on top of me, and I found myself buried in books.

"Hi brother." I hear Alphonse say from somewhere in the room. It was hard to hear due to it being muffled by the books.

"Uh, help?"

"Don't go 'hi Brother' on me! What were you doing if you weren't looking for any files?"

"Um, Nina looked like she wanted to play."

"Don't be so easy going!"

"In pain here."

"Alexander says he wants to play with mister, too."

"Oh, you sure got some guts to want to play with me.."

"I think I'm dying…"

"They say that use up all their energy when they hunt rabbits."

"Edward there isn't any rabbits in the lion's habitats. Now can you please help me get out of here?"

"**I, Edward Elric, am going after you with everything I got, you damn mutt!**"

"Ahahahahahahaha!"

'Godammit this actually hurts quite a bit…" I think as I lay under my pile of books.

"Wait, where did Wilbur go?" I hear Alphonse ask, but I had no energy to call for help again. Goodbye sweet life, it is such irony that I am to be killed by something I love.

"Big bro's playing under the books." I heard Nina say.

"Wilbur!"

A few minutes later Alphonse had dug me out of my bookish grave (with Nina's help) and I was thanking him profoundly.

"Thank you, I was so sure that I was going to perish!"

"No problem Wilbur, it was Brothers fault anyways."

"Yes it was. Here are the notes I took for you two to read over later."

"Er, wow that a lot, thanks Wilbur. Would you like to play with us?"

"Sorry but I have to reorganize these books for Mr. Tucker since they were made a mess of."

"Awwww…"

"It's okay Nina; let's go see what Brother and Alexander are doing."

* * *

It took quite a while for me to reorganize all of the books, but it did not help when Edward and Alexander barrelled through my half-finished pile, knocking it over on top of me again. Forcing me to start over. I had also spent a good ten minutes chucking books at the two in revenge. I would have never thought documents could give you such horrible bruises.

"Yo boss, I'm here to pick you up." I hear a man say just as I had finished putting all of the books and files back. "… What the hell are you doing?"

Edward, who had just shoved Alexander off of him again, replied with. "Erm, we're just taking a little break from scrimmaging around for files, or something like that."

"Does that mean you found anything helpful?" Even I was sweating a bit at that, due to the fact I had spent most of my time reorganizing the files.

"You can come again tomorrow." Mr. Tucker assured us at our looks.

As we headed out, Edward and I grabbing our coats from where we left them hanging on the parlor chairs, I heard the soldier remind Mr. Tucker that his evaluation day was coming. Well that's interesting; State Alchemist's have to be evaluated? Mr. Tucker looked quite down at the prospect; maybe I'll lend him my assistance tomorrow.

"Hey there, your Wilbur Knot right? The Colonel told me about you." The soldier said to me as we reached the waiting car, his hand reaching out to me. "I'm Second Lieutenant Jean Havoc, pleased to meet ya."

"Likewise." I say as I let go of his hand and we all enter the car, me being lucky enough to be able to go up front with Ltd. Havoc while Edward has to squish into the back with Alphonse.

"Actually the Colonel told us something interesting about you." He said as the car started moving.

"Really?' I ask, interested. "What would that be?"

"He told us you wanted to put Al into a dead body, or was it giving him an extra arm?"

The rest of the car trip was spent with me pouting and everyone else laughing at my expense.

* * *

"Ooh, two years ago, your mother…"

The next day we were in the large file room again, the two brothers near each other and me a shelf away, but this time Nina and Alexander actually let us research for a while. They were still a bit of a distraction, I'm sure Edward shared my thoughts, but I could tune them out easily.

"Yeah, Daddy said 'she went back to her family'." Or at least I thought I could.

"Oh, it must be lonely to be in a big house like this with just your father."

"No, I'm ok! Daddy's nice and I have Alexander too!" How sweet…

"But... But lately it been lonely because Daddy's been cooping himself up in his lab." Okay, that's actually kinda pitiful.

The brothers had the same thoughts, if their body languages meant anything.

"Ooooookay." I hear Edward say. "I'm feeling stiff from doing nothing but reading every day."

"The best relief for stiff shoulders is a bit of exercise, Brother." Alphonse replied a moment later.

"Yeah I'll do some exercise in the garden." Edward said as I heard him get up. "Hey mutt! I need exercise, so I'll play with you!" And with that, the shrimp ran off, Alexander happily following him.

"Come on, you too Nina." Alphonse says to the little girl and she gives him a glowing smile in return. "Do you want to play too Wilbur?"

"No thank you, but I appreciate the thought." I say as I get up, stretching my stiff body on the way. "I think I'll lend Mr. Tucker my assistance, or go back to researching."

"Oh... Okay then. See you later." Alphonse says as he leaves with Nina, a bit of disappointment lacing his echoed voice.

* * *

A while later I had finished putting away the books I had scattered, and with a small sigh I began walking down the large house's long halls, getting lost a few times before I finally find the study Mr. Tucker he told us he would be occupying today. Opening the door with a creek, I see the silhouette of Mr. Tucker beside a window, sitting at a table littered with vials, books and crumpled paper. The Life-Sewing Alchemist himself had his head in his hands, looking very much down on himself. I felt a small wave of pity for the man, all academics of all types go through this phase of hopelessness, and the point when you think your project will never work out.

"Ah, hello Wilbur. What do you need?" Mr. Tucker asks when he finally notices me standing in the doorway.

"I was wondering if I could be of any assistance for you. My biological and chimeric alchemy knowledge is not as grand as yours, but I think I may know enough to be able to be of some help-."

"No thank you, I am quiet fine." Mr. Tucker interrupts in a harsh tone, surprising me a bit, but he soon calms down. "Please, don't let my needs interrupt your research."

I only give a nod as I motion to close the door, only to hear the sound of Nina's laughter before I leave.

* * *

The next day found me sitting in another military car with Edward, Alphonse and Second Lieutenant Havoc, who had supposedly lost at rock-paper-scissors thus became our driver again, on our way to the Tucker residence for our third visit.

"Man, I hope we actually get some good info today." Edward says grumpily, and I suspect the fore coming rain is making his automail attachments ache.

"Maybe, since we can't go outside today."

"Don't worry Boss, I'm sure you'll find something. Sooner or later."

"Speaking of rain, Alphonse how exactly-?"

"-Here we go again-."

"Do you water proof your seal?"

"Err, wow. I've never actually thought about that."

"I'll try to think something up for you."

"Awww, that's nice of you kid."

"May I remind you Second Lieutenant Havoc that I am the eldest 'kid' of us three."

"Sure thing boy."

I just huff in annoyance at that. Why do these army types seem so intent on teasing me?

"Oh ya, what's with Tucker and the whole evaluation thing? I heard a few people gossiping about it."

"Brother..."

"Pretty simple actually, since his last evaluation went so badly everyone knows that if it's not waaaaay better this year he's gonna get his State Alchemist certification revoked."

"Oh ya, the whole talking chimera wanting to die thing, that sounded pretty creepy."

"Yes I heard about that. One of the reasons I wanted to interview Mr. Tucker was to psychoanalyse that chimera to find why it reacted like that. For some reason I was unable to find anything about it in the files. Did either of you...?"

"Sorry I didn't see anything."

"I got nothing. But man, no wonder the guy looks so worn out, he must be pretty stressed about it."

"I wonder why he doesn't just make another talking chimera?"

"That's probably because..." Wait... What? Why was the first thing that came to my mind 'he needs another human'? That's foolish; chimeras are made using animals... Wait, aren't humans part of the animal kingdom too? Then... Wait talking... Oh good god... No... Transmutation. Animal. Human. Chimera? Alchemy. Wife ? 2 years. Die. Death. Disappear. Revoked. Stressed? Desperate. Danger. Alexander? Nina? Nina! NINA! TUCKER! **SCAR!**

"Wilbur, are you okay? You look a little sick."

"We need to get to that house NOW!" I remembered. That Episode. Son of a- I'm such a fool!

"W-what?"

"Why?!"

"What's wrong?"

"Just DO it!"

At that last yell, Second Lieutenant Havoc's army training must have kicked in, since he really put the pedal to the metal. Of course I hardly noticed, due to the fact I was cursing at myself in my head, ignoring the brothers cries to explain myself.

* * *

As soon as we arrived I jumped out of the car and ran full speed to the house, hoping I wasn't too late. I barley registered the Elric's getting out to follow me, telling Ltd. Havoc to call for help, just in case. I wasn't a fast runner so they soon caught up to me, but due to some sort of silent agreement they no longer questioned me, just ran beside me. As soon as we reached the laboratory I slammed the doors open, only to reveal what I really didn't want to see.

"Oh, it's you guys." Mr. Tucker said eerily, and I felt bile build up in my throat. "Take a look at the finished product. _This is a chimera that can learn language_."

I immediately slid on my knee's to the chimera, praying to a god I don't believe in that it wasn't true, it was a lie. This couldn't be... This isn't...

"Watch this." I heard Tucker say in my daze, barley noticing him crouch beside the... it... her... I couldn't even touch... "Ready? This person is Wilbur."

"**Wil-bur?"**

I felt like I was going to be sick.

"That's right, good job."

"I can't believe it. It's really talking."

"Come over here. See, this is Edward."

"**Ed-ward?"**

"**Edward."**

"**Edward."**

"**Edward."**

"**Ed-ward."**

"**Edward."**

"**Mi-s-teh."**

"Nina..." I whisper horrified.

"Mr. Tucker." I heard Edward ask with an eerily calm voice. "When was your research on talking chimera's approved of and when did you get your licence?"

"That was 2 years ago, I believe."

"When did your wife leave?"

"... 2 years ago."

"One more question, ok." Edward asks again, his voice slowly losing its calm. "Where did Nina and Alexander go?"

At those words I felt the chemicals rush to my brain, the chemicals that usually make one very, very, VERY angry.

"I hate kids with good instincts like you."

Slam!

"Brother!"

"**Oh, so that's how it was! You son of a bitch! How dare you, you bastard! You used your own wife 2 years ago, and this time you used your own daughter and dog to transmute a chimera!"**

"Nina, Nina? Can you hear me? Do you understand me? Do you know who I am?" I ask as I pet her softly, reeling my anger and disgust in, if only for her sake. Plus Edward was doing a fine job.

"**Wil-bur?"**

"Yes, I'm Wilbur. Do you remember anything else?"

"**Bi-g br-o?" **

"Y-yes N-Ni-Nina."

"Yeah, you can only do so much with animal experimentation. So it should be a piece of cake to use humans! Right?!"

"Why are you so mad? Haven't the advances mankind made come from the result of countless experiments on human beings, to use medical science as an example?"

I knew that was a jab at me.

"**No fucking way! **Do you think you're going to be forgiven for something like this!? For... Toying with human lives!"

"Human lives!? HA HA! Yeah, human lives! Fullmetal Alechmist! Take a look at your limbs and at your little bro-!"

"SHUT UP! It's not a fucking sin to love! It's not their fault you murderer!" I growl at him, how fucking dare he bring that up!

"Ah, but it is **a sin to fear**. Didn't you fear never seeing your mother smile again? Or was it-?"

Wham!

At the first show of violence I grabbed onto Nina's face, covering her eyes.

"Aren't those the result of you're so called 'toying with human lives'? We're the same, you and I."

"**You're wrong!"**

"No, I'm not! You saw the possibility in front of you and you just had to try it!"

"**You're wrong!"**

"And even if you knew it was banned you couldn't stop yourself from trying!"

"**You're wrong!"**

Wham!

"Edward stop!"

"We alchemists... Stuff like this..."

Wham! Wham! Wham!

"**I... I...!"**

Wha-!

"Brother. If you hit him any more than that, he'll die." Alphonse had stopped Edward just in time, saving him from committing a crime Edward would never forgive himself for, and leaving Tucker broken and bloody on the floor, Alphonse gently led his brother to the door.

"It's not possible to get things done without dirtying your hands."

"Mr. Tucker." I heard Alphonse say while I was busy whispering reassurances to Nina all the while blocking the view of her beaten father. **"If you keep talking, this time I'll shut you up."**

Even I felt a chill run up my spine at those words. As Alphonse approached us I moved over so that he could touch Nina.

"Nina. I'm Sorry. We can't restore you with what we know now. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

As Alphonse said those tear jerking words I moved over to where I'm guessing the transmutation happened. Right away I started shifting through the nearby document left on the ground.

"I'll do it."

"What?"

"I know the most about bio and chimeric alchemy. I'll find a way to save Nina. I won't stop until I do." I swear to myself, wishing that I wasn't such a failure for not stopping it in the first place.

"Just give me time."

* * *

**Duh, duh, duuuuuuuuh.**

**Anyways here's your much longer(and hopefully not cheesy) chapter. Just to let you know I will be lengthening my chapters generally based on Brotherhood now and I get all of my references and canon dialog from the manga. Hopefully my efforts to integrate Will into the story weren't too horrible, but I tried and will continue to try.**

**See you next chapter.**

**Cheers,**

**Blunt Arrow**


	5. Scar

"Is that all Doctor?"

"Yes, I believe that's everything I know."

"Then you may leave. Thank you for your assistance."

"May I stay? I want to look through Tucker's research too see if I can find anything that will help the girl."

"Go ahead; I'm sure my superiors won't mind. I'll be leaving right away, but there'll be guards at the gate if you need anything."

"Thank you. I'll be in the other room."

I blearily walk out of the room that the army had been interrogating me in for the last hour or so, my mood matching the miserable weather. I felt a bit of anger rise up my throat as I passed the room where they were holding Tucker and Nina. Why they hell did they put Nina in the same room as that monster? Dammit, it wasn't fair, what did Nina and Alexander do to deserve what happened to them? What the hell made Tucker do it in the first place?

"He was desperate." I mumble to myself. When people get to that level of desperation, they do things they might regret. Of course Tucker didn't look like he regretted what he did to his family at all.

Opening the door to the lab, I groped around for the light and after I could see at least a foot ahead me I headed over to the documents still strewn on the floor, right beside the transmutation circle. After organizing all of the papers I decided to take a closer look at the designs of the circle and I suddenly noticed the fair amount of blood in the middle. The place where Nina and Alexander would have been standing. Oh dear god… What was Nina thinking as it happened? Did it hurt? Was she in pain? For how long? Was she her usual cheerful self, trusting her father to protect her, to never hurt her? Or did she think something was wrong, did she get scared? Did Alexander's animal instincts kick in and try to save her? Did Tucker drug them, or did he just tell them it was all a big game? It was all sick, sick ,sick.

As I forcibly pulled myself away from the disturbing show of Alchemy and back to the documents I couldn't help but wish the brothers were here to help me, but they went to Eastern Command Center to give their reports directly to Mustang. Plus, Alphonse and I decided that Edward needed to get away from Nina and Tucker, for both of their safeties.

Sitting down at the nearby table where I put the documents, I found myself just staring at the papers blankly. Where the hell do I even start? I don't know enough advanced alchemy to understand all of this, only parts and I still can't perform any type of transmutation. This was looking hopeless already…

An hour or two of getting nowhere with the documents, I found myself resting my forehead on the table, as I start to curse myself again. Why? Why? Why didn't I remember earlier? A week, a day, heck even a few hours earlier would have worked! Out of the two episodes I watched I this one should have been the most memorable, but it still took so much for me to remember it… What was the other one I watched? I should remember this one at least a little bit since I (sorta) watched it right before… And I'm pretty sure it was the next episode too… Dammit it's probably my denial of reality again, messing with my brain… Stupid PTSD… Remember… Remember… Edward… Alphonse… Injured… Mustang…. Rain?... What the hell was I forgetting? Some guy with a scar…. Scar?... Scar?... Scar…

Holy mother fu- Shit! SCAR! Not again! What's WRONG with me?! NINA!

I immediately get up and sprint toward the room that I remember Tucker and Nina were it, going as fast as I possibly can, and for once not getting lost in the large house. For someone who claims to be a child genius why am I such an idiot?! I remembered Scar in the freaking car! Both are things I could stop, even just by being the kid who screamed for help! Oh, please, please, PLEASE don't be dead Nina!

Arriving at the right hallway I noticed with horror that the door was wide open, and I ran toward it. Sliding forward on the hardwood floor, I arrived looking around, to see Tucker as nothing but pool of blood on the ground, and a large dark man in a yellow coat petting Nina.

"There is no way to restore you from this body."

"Leave her alone!" I yell in panic, as I feel adrenaline course through my body as I run forward, fist up readying for a punch. Right before I feel my, honestly probably pathetic, punch about to land, I feel the man takes a simple, easy step away from me, quicker than I ever thought possible, making me miss him completely. Like the world slowed down, I felt myself stumble a little from being unbalanced, and in that process I felt my body go numb at the looming presence of a hand about to grab the back of my head. Suddenly I put a foot that was in the air firmly on the ground, and just as I was preparing for the end, I felt myself slipping on something wet. My entire world spun, and for a second I saw the mans scarred face, before pain exploded in my head.

The last thing I saw before I blacked out was the man reaching for Nina again.

* * *

"Hey hold on a second, Colonel Mustang. I came to pick up a living Mr. Tucker, but… Are you telling me to put a corpse on trial? For crying out loud, we didn't come from Central to do an autopsy."

"Yes, I know we've made a mistake, Lieutenant Colonel Hughes. Just take a look in any case."

"Hm. So here we have the sort of guy that would experiment on his own daughter. Probably had the wrath of heaven handed over to him. Eeew… Just like I thought. The military police outside died the same way?"

"Yeah. It's as if they were ripped apart from the inside."

"Hey, weren't there three bodies?"

"It turned out that one of them wasn't dead, just unconscious. The soldier who found them made a mistake."

"Sweet, we actually have a witness. Where is this guy?"

"After he gave his testimony I sent him home to recover from his injuries. I have it written down if you want it though."

"I'll take those!… I see… Wait isn't this that Doctor kid? What the hell was he doing here?

"I introduced him to Fullmetal as a favour."

"Suuuuure ya did. Probably wanted the kid to owe you something… So let me get this straight, the kid heard the guards scream, went to investigate, got lost, stumbled into the killer right after he killed Tucker, then, trying to stop him from killing the chimera, slipped on Tuckers blood, hit his head on the chair, and passed out? Really?

"That's correct."

"I don't know whether to call this kid lucky or stupid. Either way, you just let him go? You've grown soft Roy. OoooOooooh! He got a peek at the killer! Let's see, tall, dark skin, yellow coat, x-shaped scar on face… What do you think Major Armstrong?"

"Yes, there's no doubt about it.. It's 'Him'."

* * *

Jogging up the Main street East City I looked around frantically for a blond shorty and a suit of armor. My head was still hurting something terrible from yesterday and I knew I really shouldn't be out of bed yet, but I really needed to find those brothers to warn them about the murderer. For such noticeable people they really are hard to find when you really need them. As I jogged I felt the unfamiliar weight of cold steel thumping against my thigh with every step I took and I had to resist the urge to stop and stare at my pocket. I woke up yesterday, traumatized with a horrible headache, only to be immediately interrogated by Mustang about the killer for an hour, and then sent home like a child that had done something naughty, so me in a pissed mood I thought it was only right for me to 'borrow' one of the dead soldier's guns. After all, I was almost murdered by a serial killer; I think that I have a right to be a little paranoid.

After stopping to lean against a streetlight, breathing heavily from jogging for so long, I had to remind myself exactly WHY I was doing this again. Running really wasn't my thing. Ah, that's right, after I woke up this morning thinking the last few days were all drunk dream (I thought my headache was due to a hangover) then remembering that I don't drink (on weekdays) and noticing my coat soaked with the Tucker's now slightly dried blood, I had a horrible panic attack. Then, after calming down a bit, I remembered the whole 'Scar' thing and realized the Elric brothers were in deep trouble. I then grabbed my spare coat, deposited the gun into one of its pockets, grabbed a first aid kit (just in case), stuffed it into my book bag and ran for it. Now I realize coming here in search for them was foolish, due to the fact that I KNOW they will be okay whether I'm here or not. Probably. I should just head back and…

"Stop!" I heard a rather familiar voice yell and I quickly pushed myself away from the streetlight to turn toward where I heard it come from. Across the courtyard I was about to enter I witnessed the man with the scar on his face murder a soldier. Ignoring the distressed cries of civilians I ran forward toward the clock in the center of the courtyard, where I see Scar approaching Edward, who for some (IDIOTIC) reason was not even defending himself.

"Run!" I yell just as the clock struck twelve, grabbing Edwards wrist and pulling him along with me as I ran as fast as I could, hoping that Alphonse would follow.

"You won't get away!" I hear the murderer say, and I feel a chill of fear go down my spine. Edward seemed to have broken out of his odd shock since he went ahead of me to lead us in our epic sprint, trying his best to take random sharp turns to try to lose our pursuer. I was trying my best to keep up with them, but they were damned fast runners.

"Shit… What the hell was that? Making enemies of people… I something I do a lot… But that doesn't warrant killing me! What the hell are you... Doing here anyways?!" Edward yells at me up ahead and I felt better at the fact that he was getting tired too.

"That… Scar… Serial killer… I was… Looking for… You… To warn…" I say in huffed gasps, almost totally out of breath. Suddenly Alphonse ran far ahead of us and turned a corner, disappearing from sight.

"What the... Heck is... He doing?" I huff out in short gasps, still struggling to keep up with Edward. For all we know that alleyway could be a dead end!

"Over here!" He yells at us, gesturing in a 'come hither' fashion.

As I turned the corner into the ally I barely noticed in time that Alphonse was kneeling down and seemed to be drawing a transmutation circle in chalk(Where did he even get that chalk from?!)and I had to do a silly pirouette to avoid him. Unfortunately I was not built to be a ballerina and I felt myself fall forward to do a face plant. Fortunately my book bag saved my face from the stone road, but not the humiliation of having my buttocks in the air and hands splayed out under me.

"What do you think is going to happen to us if we get into this alleyway?!" I hear Edward yell at Alphonse as I struggle to get up from my position, lungs screaming for water.

"Just come on!" Alphonse yells as he transmutes a giant wall, blocking the way in. "Now he can't follow us!"

"Ooooh." Edward says in appreciation.

"Brilliant." I say, grateful for the chance to rest. Just as I felt my breath start to come back, in the corner of my eye I see a crack in the dense wall start to form. Not even an instant later I was dodging hunks of rock as Scar blew an almost perfect circle into the wall, making us reel back in shock for a second.

"Deeeeeeh!" "Gyaaaaaaah!" Edward and I scream as we all make a mad dash for it, me leading us for once. As I sprint forward I hear the electrical charge I now register as Scar's explosive transmutation and I try to increase my speed.

"Look out!" I heard Edward yell from behind me and an instant later I feel an arm wrap around my waist, pulling me violently backwards.

'Just in time.' I realize a second later, as a pile of rubble lands where I had been standing a moment before.

"... This is a joke... Right?" I hear Edward say behind me after he releases me, the three of us in shock at the fact we were now trapped in an alleyway with a serial killer. Hearing the heavy footsteps approach all of us turn in unison toward the explosion man.

"What the hell are you? Why are you going after us?"" Edward questions the man, trying to get answers.

"If there are creators, then there are also destroyers."

"So you're telling us we have no choice." Edward growls in response. Suddenly, on either side of me, I could see both of the brother's readying themselves. Lighting quick, Edward clapped his hands together, reached over to a nearby pipe and created a wicked looking blade while Alphonse got into a fighting position.

"You've got guts..."

"Let's go!" Edward yells as all three of them rush forward and I, a moment too late, rush to retrieve the gun I brought.

"But you're too slow!"

I look up just in time to see Scar blow Alphonse's torso apart, a death blow to anyone else. I stumble back just as Alphonse hits to ground.

"Al! You son of a bitch!" Edward screams in horror as he recklessly charges toward the murderer, blade ready to stab into him.

"I said you're too slow!" At those words I discard my search for the gun and grabbing a sharp piece of wood nearby, just as he tried to make Edwards automail arm explode, I used all of the strength I had to stab him in the leg with it.

"Auuuuugh!" He screamed at the unexpected pain, allowing Edward and I to roll away to safety.

"... Damn it!" Edward says as he immediately gets up in front of me, discarding his coat and gloves to reveal his metal limb. I was still on the ground, trying to recover from my sudden fall.

"Automail... I see. It shouldn't have been destroyed through 'human destruction'. And that one over there. I thought that I would destroy his body because I tore apart his armor, but he doesn't have a body... And too catch me unaware, to make me draw blood..." Scar says to us as Edward prepares another transmutation as I scramble to find that damned gun. "You're a strange bunch... Haven't I wasted enough time thanks to you?"

"I'm not nice enough to play by your schedule!" Edward says as he transmutes his arm into a pointed blade.

"Brother, don't... Run away..." Alphonse says weakly a ways away.

"You idiot!" Edwards says over his shoulder. "You think I can just leave you behind and rum away?!"

I, still in too much of a panic to find the gun, begin to wonder if I should even interfere at all by this point. Clearly they were all much more skilled than I in the art of staying alive and killing.

"So, by putting both of your hands together you form a ring and use the cycled energy to transmute? Then..."

"Raaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Edward yells as he runs toward a readying Scar, and me, realizing the meaning behind what the murderer said, screams at Edward to stop.

Too late, like a picture in a battle scene, I sit in full view of Scar holding Edwards extended automail arm, other hand thankfully not reaching for the blonds head, but clenched into a righteous fist. All Edward was able to do was make a small scratch on the scarred mans cheek.

"The first thing to do is to have this annoying arm.." Scar says in a moment of horrific stillness, and I suddenly see the man clench on the automail arm, crushing it a bit, and I see the first signs of transmutic lightening. "... Destroyed."

In slow motion I see Edwards arm unveil like a complicated mechanical spring, twisting a bit, then suddenly exploding outwards as it there was a small bomb of high pressured air built inside of it.

"Bro.. **Brother!**" Alphonse screams in a mix of shock and concern, while Edward kneels on the ground in horror, Scar standing ominously above him like some dark angle.

"I'll give you a moment to pray to god-."

"Stop!" I yell in a moment of clarity as I finally reach into my pocket and whip out the dead soldiers gun, aiming the best I could at Scar's head. "Do anything and I'll shoot."

All eye's turn toward me.

"You think that you can kill me?" Scar says to me and I have to stop myself from shaking.

"Do you think you're faster than the hands of a doctor trying to save lives?"

"A doctor... Are you sure that you're able to pull that trigger?"

"The question is not being unable to, it's resisting to. You murdered Nina." I spit the words out like acid, and in the corner of my eye I see the brothers reeling in horrified shock.

"The chimera... There was no way to bring that child back, it would have been cruel to have let it live."

"You bastard, you know nothing, I could have-!"

"You fear..." In my anger I didn't react in time, and I soon found Scar running toward me, hand above him readying to grab. I felt fear, true animalistic fear, rise up inside of me, and I threw the gun aside as I dodged the hand. For a millisecond I marveled at the fact I was able to dodge this monster, only to realize that he became off balanced at the wound I gave him earlier, giving me an escape route.

"Wilbur run!" Edward says as he gives the man a one armed tackle, successfully diverting Scar's attention away from me. I land hard on the ground, helpless as I watch Scar throw Edward over his head on onto the stone road. I see Edward try to reach for the gun that landed a small ways away from him, only for the scarred man to stomp on his hand, making Edward scream in pain as Alphonse and I yell out in concern. With his other foot Scar kicked the gun away.

"Once again, I'll give you a moment to pray to god."

"Sorry, but there isn't a god I want to pray to."

There was a pause and I listened to the steady fall of the rain around us, like the tears of Alphonse and my feelings of uselessness.

"You're only after me right? My little brother Al... Are you going to kill him too?"

"If there are obstacles, I will remove them. But for now, the only one I have business with is the Fullmetal Alchemist... Only you."

"Really? Then promise me... That you won't touch my little brother."

What the hell am I, chopped liver?

"Bro..."

"I will keep my word."

"What are you saying...? Brother, what are you doing?!** Run away!"**

I feel like a piece of trash, just sitting here...

"**Get up! Run!"**

... As Alphonse screams with all of his heart for his brother to run...

"**Stop... Stop it!"**

... And I watch Scar reach for Edwards head.

"**Stoooooooooooooooooooooooooop!"**

_Bam!_

"That's as far as you go."

Looking over to the noise in wonder, I see Colonel Mustang with a gun raised into the air, Second Lieutenant Havoc on one side of him with a long rifle and an army woman aiming a gun at Scar with what looked like a military squadron with them. I have no idea why I didn't notice them sooner.

"That was a close call, Fullmetal."

"Colonel! This guy's…"

"That man is a suspect for the serial murders of State Alchemist's, but there's no doubt about it after taking a look at the present situation." Mustang explains, regarding Scar with cool readiness. "So, you're also behind the murders at the Tucker residence?"

In the corner of my eye I see Mustang looking over to me for confirmation, and not taking my eyes off of the trapped Scar, I give him a short nod.

"Alchemists are those that twist the natural state of creation to a degenerate form… That is, in short, sacrilege to our creator, God." Scar says in an intimidating but determined voice as he brings up his hand of destruction and clenches it in front of his face. "As the messengers of God, we are those that carry out God's Judgment."

"That's something I don't understand." Mustang says, regarding Scar with a critical eye. "There are many Alchemist's, but why are you targeting only those that have State License's?"

"No matter what, if you intend to interfere I will eliminate you too." Scar says with conviction as the Colonel glares at him.

"… Interesting!" Mustang says as he throws the gun toward the army woman, pulling on some white gloves at the same time and walks forward toward Scar. I think that there may be some sort of Alchemic symbol on the gloves, but I can't see exactly what kinds since I was positioned far away, on the wall right beside where Alphonse is.

Noticing this fact, and that Scar's been successfully distracted by the Colonel, I crawl over to Alphonse.

"Are you okay? Is your armor holding?" I ask him in a low voice, trying to not draw attention.

"I'm doing fine, the blood seal should hold too."

"Will you be able to fix your body? Do you have proper protection from the rain?"

"Brother should-."

_Bam! Bam!__Bam!__Bam!__Bam!_

We both look up just in time to see the army woman shoot at Scar, who skillfully dodges all of her bullets. At her feet was Colonel Mustang, shamefully splayed on the ground.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing!?"

"You're worthless when it's raining. Please stay back Colonel!"

"Oh, yeah. When it's as wet as this, you can't make a spark."

In my opinion, Mustang deserves the slamming of his ego.

"State Alchemists and those who are obstacles to my mission!" Scar, who had backed off a bit after almost becoming Swiss cheese, says savagely. "I will annihilate everyone here!"

Suddenly, as I was trying to covertly make my way over to check on Edward, I felt the ground under me shake. I soon found myself running for my life again as I was forced to dodge the debris made by some insane buffed up army guy. Seriously, any one of those rocks hit me and I'm dead. As I finally get to Edward I grab his good arm and haul him to his feet, dragging him along with me as I try to make us safely exit this battlefield of flying stones and explosions. Finally we reach the sanctuary that is Second Lieutenant Havoc. Looking around me I see everyone looking at the steroid man with either annoyance or exasperation. I myself couldn't help but give 2nd Lt. Havoc a 'what the hell?' look at the actions and words of the rampaging soldier.

"I, the Strong-Arm Alchemist… **Alex Louis Armstrong**!"

After figuring out that the guy was no threat to me at the moment, I turned toward Edward and began looking for injuries that I could help with. There was nothing I could do about the pain that his automail (or lack thereof) was causing him, but I diagnosed that it was most likely that the explosion cause some of the mechanical nerves that were left attached to him to go haywire, confusing Edwards's body and making him feel pain. On his fleshy parts I could see nothing too serious other than his arm which was probably along with his knees were scrapped open, little beads of blood were coming out of his arms and there was a small stain on his pants, probably happened somewhere along his long series of tumbles and rolls to avoid being killed. It will be painful for him to get the bits of rock and wood out of there. There's of course bruises everywhere, I'm sure Edward doesn't care about those, but I'm pretty sure he will want some help getting those slithers of wood out of his skin. Good thing that there are tweezers in my first aid kit.

"Major! Please don't destroy too much of the city!" Havoc yelled, bringing me out of my medical musings. I only noticed then that the once nice street of East City were totally destroyed, road crumbled, smashed open, giant craters littered the area, an entire wall of a building was crumbled and there were random rocks and spikes everywhere. I then, out of habit, shielded my eye's as I got a full blow of shirtless buff man, who seems to be in a spot light with constant sparkles around him.

"What…?" The shirtless man I now know as Major Armstrong said to Scar with a sly look. "As an Alchemist, you wouldn't think it was that powerful. Isn't that right Scar?"

I don't know why this was such a surprise, I could tell it was alchemy just by the small blades of lighting created whenever Scar destroyed something. What did they think; Scar was hiding a bazooka in his sleeve? How else can an ordinary human blow stuff up, other that alchemy or a bomb? Or course it might have been slightly more obvious to me, being used to a place where such feats like alchemy was impossible and doing much theoretical research on the said subject.

Pulling myself from my thoughts I had to take note that I still had a job to do. Pulling my first aid kit from my bag, I pulled what I needed out an began administering it to my patient.

"Ow! What the hell are you doing? That stings!"

"I'm making sure you don't die from infection. Stay still. I need to do your knees after this."

"A bit of warning would have been great you know… Wait, where did you even get this stuff-?"

_Bam!_

Looking up for a second at the telltale sound of a gunshot, I saw Scar stumble a bit, and I found myself wondering if they actually got him.

"Did you get him!?" Mustang asked my question for me.

"He's fast." The stern army lady replied. "That one shot only grazed him."

Right away Scar, the cut on the side of his head starting to bleed a bit, got up, and gave us a cold red eyed glare.

"Red eye's and brown skin!" Armstrong yelled in shock.

"An Ishvalan…!" Mustang hissed. I, along with everyone else, stood still with wary shock. I then realized a bit of Scar's motive. In living in this world, I learned about its past just as much as one on Earth would learn about its own past. Whisper's in the University talked about the Ishval Civil War, how bloody an violent it was, how doctors came back needing treatment themselves, how it made the automail boom, how after a while State Alchemists were sent to the frontlines to rid of the living Ishvalans and about how they committed genocide. It definitely explained why Scar comes after, like Mustang said, State Alchemist's and only State Alchemist's. He had a vendetta.

Suddenly Scar, probably noticing that he was surrounded, slammed his hand onto the ground, creating a giant hole around him. I had just finished wrapping Edward's knee's so I was totally unprepared for the falling sensation that came upon me.

"Don't worry young man, I have got you!" The almost bald buff guy yelled at me, holding me high over his head like I was some sort of trophy, me limp as a ragdoll due to shock, and ran upwards from the collapsing ground, his sparkles getting into my face. I barley registered a soldier helping Edward get out of the hole.

"That bastard went into the sewers!"

"Don't follow him."

"No way I'd follow a guy that dangerous."

"Sorry, you gave us enough time to surround him, but…"

"Umm, Major Armstrong was it…?"

"No, no. Rather than buying time, I was trying my best to not get killed."

"I'm still up here…"

"Oh? Is it all over?"

"Lieutenant Colonel Hughes, where have you been up until now?

"I was hiding!"

"Can you please put me down?"

"Oh! My apologies, my strength is so great that I did not notice your weight. Allow me to help you down!"

"Eeeyyyaaahh!" I screamed as the crazy curly haired Alchemist threw me high up into the air, and failing around I was sure that I was going to go splat, until Armstrong easily caught me under my arms and gently putting me onto the ground. I took a shaky few steps forward and worked hard to ignore the soldiers around me giggling at my expense.

"**Stupid Brother!**"

At Alphonse's yell I look over toward the hulk of broken armor, just in time to see him punch Edward in square in the face. I will be a very unhappy doctor if Edward's jaw broke and I have to treat it Alphonse….

As the two brothers fought, Alphonse giving Edward the tongue lashing that he needed, while the solders and I looked on, I wondered what I had gotten into… and I figured I might as well help Edward with his slithers before I go back to the University.

"I think you dropped this." I look up to see the lady soldier hand me the dead soldier's gun.

"Uh, you can keep it." I say nervously, having no will to ever hold one of those things again.

"Good, because if you had tried to take it, I would have had to arrest you for thievery." She tells me with a nod, turning around to leave with me in shock behind her. I then realize that she's letting me get off Scott free for stealing it in the first place.

"By the way…" She starts, turning her head a bit to look at me. "You forgot to unlatch the safety fire."

"Safety… fire…?" I say in shock as she continues to walk away, and I do a face palm at the realization of my mistake.

* * *

**Yay. Chapter done. Will is a bit of a dork, since you can't shoot a bullet without unlatching the safety fire.**

**Don't worry; those two episodes are the only ones he watched, so there will probably be no more revelation moments like that one, unless he actually figures it out himself. But in his panic with Scar he forgot about the episodes again anyways, so he was still pretty useless. At least he got his two cents in.**

**See you next chapter.**

**Cheers,**

**Blunt Arrow**


	6. Annoyance

This was a very bad day for a certain Ulfrig Ivo.

Oh, it started well enough; a good breakfast and a nice chat with his friends should have been a start of a very good day. Then, bam, Knot decides to ruin that would-be-very-good-day and now, at the end of the crappy day, a very peeved Ivo was walking down one of the school's hallways, cursing at the damned young genius for wasting the University student precious time, when he spotted his wayward boss heading toward him. Just as he was about to give Knot the tongue lashing he deserved, school protégée or not, Ivo saw the look on the young man's face and faltered.

Even in the middle of his most stressing project, Knot hadn't looked this bad. The bags and the bloodshot quality to the piercing grey eye's weren't anything new, no not at all, but even on his hardest days, Knot walked with his back strait and had quick firm steps. Not like the slouching, feet dragging figure he was now. The usually pale boy almost looked tanned with all of the dirt on him and the state of his clothes made Ivo almost think that the kid got into a fight. His black slacks were horribly dirty and they even looks torn in some places, Knots jacket looked a bit better, all it really needed was a washing, (plus Ivo knew the boy had at least four spares). But the oddest part was that his usually neatly combed over hair, even though his bangs always spiked up like blades of grass atop his head, was a complete mess, a huge tangled birds nest with a few loose chocolate brown strands lying on his forehead. Ivo's pretty sure that he's witnessing one of Knot's worst moments.

Oh, Ivo was still mad at him of course, after all he did just disappear without a word. He knew that Knot was doing field research this week, but usually the boy would leave at least a note to inform Ivo not to bring food. But this time he just disappeared, and when Ivo went to check if he had just decided to rest in his room a while longer (the boy never sleeps in) all Ulfrig found was one of his coats, covered in almost completely dried out blood. After a bit of panicking, Ivo calmed down enough to realize that it was most likely not Knots own blood, due to the fact, after a bit of investigating, the blood was only on the outside of the coat and there were no puncture holes. Also by the way the blood was splattered, Knot most likely just fell, and not had it gruesomely splashed onto him. With that, Ulfrig had decided that some idiot must have dropped a blood bag and the kid was just unfortunate and clumsy enough to trip in it. He also just probably was a jerk and forgot about Ulfrig or decided reminding the aid about his absence again was a waste of the Doctors precious time. With that thought in mind Ivo had given an annoyed huff and marched out of the damned researchers rooms.

But that didn't stop Ivo from going back to the study every second hour, and asking people he saw about Knots whereabouts, like some mother who had lost her child in the market. It wasn't as if Ulfrig actually cared about Knot or anything, Ivo just knew that if anything happened to the kid, without his knowledge in his time, Ulfrig would be blamed for it, and that would be really, really bad.

"Where the hell have you been?!" Ivo demanded instead, deciding that if Knot gave a good enough answer Ulfrig would save the lecture for when the boy looked better.

Knot stopped just as he was about to pass Ulfrig and gave a start as if he had only just noticed Ivo's presence. Then, after seemingly noting just who was yelling at him, the doctor gave Ivo a telltale look that clearly said 'you're lucky I'm not firing you on the spot'.

'Please.' Ivo thought with an internal eye roll. 'My _mom_'s glare is worse than that.' But the threat was still pretty clear to Ulfrig. Not that he cared.

"Well?!" He demanded harshly, waiting for his answer just as Ms. Ivo would when Ulfrig had done something bad as a child and she demanded an explanation. Ivo positioned his knuckles on his hips and he used his superior height to glower over the Doctor, hoping that he looked intimidating enough.

But Knot just gave Ulfrig a very peeved look, and without further ado (also with some smugness) the young researcher opened his mouth to give his aid a very detailed explanation of his very interesting day.

Ivo whished that he had never asked.

* * *

As a young child there were some things that I never really thought of, thoughts that most children had regularly. I never made some the decisions that children made either. I never really thought of what my favorite color was, never pondered what food I liked most, and never really made myself have a certain preference for anything. I didn't care what music I listened to, I actually preferred just to turn the radio onto the local news channel and work while pretending to listen it. I never willingly watched television or movies, so I never made a decision of what genre's I like. The only books I've ever willingly read were long, hard non-fiction, usually academic, books, I think the last time I read an actual kids book was when I was four. I only generally decided I liked furry creatures, but I never made a specific animal my favorite. Honestly, the only things in the mind of preference where things I didn't like.

I didn't like the color orange. I abominate eggs and cabbages. I have a healthy dislike for any kind of loud punk music. I have a distain for meaningless horror movies and chick-flicks. I never even bothered to open a teen novel. But one thing that I for sure hate, with all my heart on certain days, was the loud, annoying, chattering of the despicable creatures we call birds. It really does not matter what types of birds per see, but usually it was the ones that for some unfathomable reason enjoyed singing their hearts out at dawn. They were the worst. The absolute worst.

_Cheep! Cheep, cheep! Cheeeeeeeeep! Chirp! Chee-!_

_Slam!_

That was the sound of me punching my window, which for some reason I decided to place my bed right under, I as tried to scare off the birds on their favorite olive tree, which for some reason was directly outside my window, only for me to hear them jump one or two branches away, then continue their horrible cheeping.

Great, now my hand was bruised for nothing.

With a pained groan I got up from the warm abyss that was my bed. The only time I could ever sleep through this racket was if I had a bit too much to drink the night before, but I didn't drink often. Only when Professor Nostrum thought I needed to relax and bribed some of his students to take me partying, then the damned University students would get me curious about some sort of new alcohol and by the end of the night I'd be smashed. Turns out there are no real laws against underage drinking in this world, just an age preference.

Grumbling in annoyance I reach over for the blanket I usually put on myself to keep warm in the mornings, only to lift up a bloody coat.

'That's what's making that stench.' I think, doing my best to keep distracted from the tumble of emotions in me when I'm reminded whose blood this is, and why it was there in the first place. Deciding that the coat was ruined I threw it into the garbage and made my way over to the bathroom, my steps unsteady from both sleepiness and from being so sore. After all, I did a lot of usual exercise yesterday, which I never do if I have a choice, it no surprise that I'm horribly sore. It still sucks though.

After finally entering the long awaited bathroom I took one look at the mirror and gave myself a weary smirk. I was a complete mess; no wonder Ivo looked so shocked. I was too tired to take off all of my clothes and put on my pajamas, an old habit from when I was female, so I decided to do the male thing and sleep in the muscle shirt and boxer shorts I always wore under my usual clothes. It actually much for comfortable, if not a bit greasy, then wearing PJ's, I may forgo them and just wear these from now on. The only thing that was off about me was my hair, a dastardly mess, and there was still lingering dust on me. I'll have to wash my sheets sooner or later, or order Ivo to do it for me and say that I'd fire him if he doesn't. It works half the time, but he knows that I'm not serious since he's the best aid I've had, and it's very hard to come across an even half good aid like Ivo.

After taking a long, wonderful, shower, I decided that for once I could be a lazy teenager and walk around in my underwear until Ivo came with my breakfast. But I couldn't let myself relax too much, oooh no, if I did that my mind would wander and it would surely lead itself to the memories of the last two days. I do not want to think about the last two days ever again. So with that in mind I headed toward my dimly lit study, leaving my usually organized room in a bit of a mess, sat down at my desk and poured my heart into my research.

* * *

A few hours later I glanced at the clock and gave a start of surprise. I can't believe that so much time has passed without me noticing, it was almost the time that Ivo came to give me my breakfast. Putting down my pen for now I got up and headed back to my bedroom. I went over to my dresser and pulled out some black slacks, exactly like the ones I wore yesterday and a light blue dress shirt. Those are pretty much the only kinds of clothes I own, since it's simple and publicly accepted, mostly for someone in the University with my job title. Also no one would look twice if you wear this style of clothing every day, even if it all looked the same.

As I put on my leather belt there was a sudden knocking at my 'front door'. Frowning a bit, Ivo is unusually early, I quickly finished with my pants, threw on a dress shirt and while I buttoned it up I decided that for once my hair could wait until after I have eaten.

"I'm coming." I say, while brushing my bangs out of my eyes, in an annoyed voice as the person behind the door's knocking got louder. Making my way over to the study door I figured out that it was most likely not Ivo or Nostrum since they would both only knock once then just barge in. So the question is, just who decided to visit me this early in the morning?

The question answered itself because just as I was about to get near it, the door violently slammed open, knocking over a few piles of paper, to reveal a certain Major Alex Louis Armstrong, dressed in civilian clothes and seemed to have his usual imaginary sparkles around him.

"Good morning Doctor Wilbur Knot!" He bellowed at me, sparkles dancing around his head. I had fallen over backwards at the sudden opening of the door, shirt still half unbuttoned, and from my position on the floor I openly stared at the man with horror. What the hell was he doing here?

"Now is not the time to be resting on the floor Wilbur Knot!" He said to me, as he took a long stride forward and picked a very freak out me from under my armpits, setting me up strait. "If you do not move quickly we shall miss our train!"

"Wait our wha-?"

"There is no time for discussion Wilbur Knot! I insist that you must prepare yourself for the trip!"

"Bu-but!

"RIGHT AWAY!"

And with that I quickly ran to grab my suit case, throwing it on the floor and then throwing open my drawers, flinging out random pairs of pants, shirts, boxers, sweat shirts and socks. After adding a spare coat to the pile of clothes on my suit case, I run to grab my book bag, putting in papers, a blank notebook, pens, and a book or two for reading inside of it. I then grabbed my first aid kit and stuffed it into my book bag, right beside my wallet. Just as I got out of the bathroom with my toiletries, worrying that I wouldn't have enough space in my bag, I found Major Armstrong saluting toward me, my suitcase only half full of neatly folded clothes, with a bigger pile just as neat lying on my bed.

"You should only carry two extra sets of clothes and many extra set of undergarments when traveling Wilbur Knot!" The Major tells a shock and disorganized me, and I swear there's the illusion of roses around his head. After storing the toiletries, with the help of the Major, I slicked back my hair into its usual comb over, shrugged on an extra coat, grabbed my book bag (Major Armstrong was carrying my suitcase) and headed for the door. Then I remembered something.

"Wait, Major, why do I have to catch a train agai-?"

"There is no time! WE MUST LEAVE NOW!" And with that he swung me over his shoulder, my head facing forward, and ran for it.

"What the hell?! Kidnapping!" I screamed as I struggled for freedom. It was like trying to smash a brick wall with your fist, only this guy was able to do it.

As the crazy blond ran I saw Professor Nostrum walking up ahead, and I felt hope.

"Professor help!" I yelled at him, but all he did was give us a small wave (psycho had the nerve to wave back) and yell a small "Have fun Wilbur!" at us as we sped away. The hope was now crushed.

But as we sped by the student commons, getting a few odd look because it did look like a legitimate kidnapping, I saw the telltale red hair of a certain Ulfrig Ivo up ahead.

"Ivo!" I yelled at him, desperate enough to screw over my pride to ask for his help. Ivo immediately looked away from the group of friends he was chatting with, and turned toward where he heard my voice from. Immediately his eye widened when he saw Armstrong speeding toward him. After meeting my eye's he quickly assessed the situation and shoved the breakfast tray he was holding into a friend's hand (I'm pretty sure it was one of my old aids) and spread his arms wide, trying to block the speeding train that was Major Armstrong. For a second I thought that the Major was actually going to trample my aid, but thankfully the lunatic stopped just before he was about to turn Ivo into road kill. Like I said, good aids are hard to find, sass or no sass.

"Please excuse me good sir, but we have a train due to leave in an hour, so we really must get going." Armstrong said while running on the spot, and I gave Ivo a look that clearly said 'this guys a psycho'. "I am Major Armstrong with the Amestris military, here to escort the good Doctor. I assure you he will be in good hand on his long journey."

After seemingly processing the information that the Major quickly blurted out, Ivo smirked, and, to my horror, neatly stepped out of the way. Without further ado, Major Armstrong waved Ivo and his shocked looking friends a quick goodbye and sped away.

"**You bastard**!" I yelled over my shoulder, knowing why he did that. That complete and utter jerk realized that he was going to get his volunteer hours by looking after an empty room. He's going to get hell when I escape this steroid alchemist.

* * *

After depositing (throwing) me into an awaiting military car, the Major put my suitcase into the trunk and got into the front seat, telling the confused driver to head to the train station. While we sped through the streets of East City, I was in too much shock to question what was going on anymore. I think it would be useless evader if I did anyways.

Right after we arrived at the station the Major gracefully leaped out of the car, went to the trunk to grab both of our luggage, then opened the back door to once again swing me over his shoulders, this time with my head behind him. I didn't even bother to struggle. I didn't need to see up ahead to know that people in the busy train station were parting like the red sea for the Strong-Arm Alchemist. Just as I was accepting the fact that the Major may be an evil villain kidnapping me to rule the world, the said evil overlord of the sparkly blond guys suddenly stopped.

The next second had a very confused me deposited in front of an equally confused Edward and Alphonse Elric.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Edward asks me in a surprised voice, but all I could do is stand there, gapping like a dead fish.

"Why he's your doctor, of course he will accompany you!" The Major says in a jolly voice. "My apologies for being late."

"It's okay Major; we only just got here ourselves." Alphonse reassures Armstrong, and I finally notice that he's packed into a box like luggage.

"Pulse the trains not due for departure for another thirty minutes." Edward says lazily, jabbing a thumb at the awaiting train.

"Excellent! You children await here while I retrieve our tickets!" And with that I was finally rid of probably the most annoying person I have ever had the unfortunate chance of meeting. I then turn toward the brothers I had hoped to never cross paths with again.

"What in the worlds going on?" I demand.

"Brother and I are going back to our childhood town to get our bodies fixed. I'm sorry; you don't have to come if you don't want to." Alphonse finished hurriedly.

"Ya, it's not like we need a doctor in the first place." Edward said casually.

"Yes, I would be thankful for that." I reply to Alphonse, intentionally ignoring Edwards jab. "I had some things I needed to work on back at the University and I- wait where did you say you're going?"

"Resembool, where my mechanic lives. Why?" Edward questions me suspiciously. I have really no idea why he suddenly detests my presence; during our time at Tuckers he at least politely tolerated me.

"Actually I think that I will come along." I decide, after all, it's been awhile since I visited 'those people'. I might as well use this military paid for trip to do that.

"That's wonderful!" Major Armstrong says suddenly, giving us all a small shock. "Here are your tickets, please head toward you designated seat right away while I take care of Alphonse Elric and our luggage!" And he was off again, leaving Edward and I in the dust.

It didn't take long for the Major to join us after Edward and I found our seats, saving us from the awkward silence that was probably to come. After a quiet argument with the Major, Edward got up from where he was sitting beside me to being smashed up against the window by Armstrong. The Strong-Arm Alchemist's argument was that it would be rude if someone had an assigned seat with him and had to be squished like how Edward was now. Edward immediately complained about why he had to be squished and why I got the roomy seat. Before I could even open my mouth (to tell Edward it was because he was smaller) the Major quickly told Edward it was because I was older. The one armed shrimp grudgingly accepted that explanation.

After a few minutes of waiting for the train to depart, we heard a knocking on the window and I looked over to see the cowardly solder from yesterday peering at us from the other side of the glass.

"Lieutenant Colonel Hughes!" Edward exclaims and immediately moves to open the window.

"Hey! The guys from HQ were too busy to drop by, so they sent me instead." The man I now know as Hughes said with a small wave of greeting. "And I've brought a message from Roy."

"From the Colonel?"

"'Post-processing is a bit of a pain, so I will not permit you to die within my jurisdiction'. That's all."

"Tell him I said, 'roger that, I will not die before you do, Colonel shit." Edward was all attitude.

"Ahahaha! Wicked brats are aplenty in this world! You and that bastard Roy ought to have long lives!"

Just then the trains whistle sounded and the conductor blew his own whistle, signaling that the train was about to leave. Lieutenant Colonel Hughes stepped back from the train as it slowly started to move and gave a salute.

"Well then, be careful on your journey! If you pop by Central give a holler. You too Doctor Knot, it was nice to meet ya." I didn't think he was going to address me at all for a while. As the train got faster I gave the same an awkward wave goodbye, only for me to catch being given a huge grin in return before I lost sight of him as the train sped away, off to the country side.

* * *

I admittedly spent the entire train ride ignoring my fellow passengers by reading one of the books I brought along with me, an interesting yet difficult volume that I would be able to read several times before losing interest. I barely noticed that Edward and Major Armstrong were chatting with each other; honestly, the only time that I didn't tune them out is when Edward got mad at the Major for putting Alphonse in the sheep car. I personally found the idea quite amusing.

Just as we pulled into a small train station and I was about to pull out a pen and paper to take notes, when Major Armstrong suddenly got up from his seat to look out of the window, making Edward and I yell out in surprise.

"Doctor Marcoh!" The Major yelled out of the window, and after hearing that name I quickly scrambled to get a look at the man. "Are you not Doctor Marcoh?! It's me, Alex Louis Armstrong from Central!" At that last sentence I saw a look of panic flash across the man's face before he suddenly started to run.

"Was that really Doctor Tim Marcoh?" I ask the Major curiously.

"Do you guys know him?" Edward questions us both.

"I know _of_ him, he is the main source for any information on medical alchemy in Amestris. He was the only reason I was able to study the alchemy in the first place" I answer.

"Yes… He is a very capable alchemist from the alchemic research agency of Central. He took part in research to use alchemy for medical purposes, but disappeared after the Civil War." The Strong-Arm Alchemist answers after me, and I see a flash go through Edwards's eyes.

"Let's get off!" Edward says as he suddenly gets up and starts running down the train's isle.

"Oh? We are not to get off at Resembool?" Armstrong asks Edward as we both get up to follow the midget.

"If that guy researched what you both said he did, then he might know something about biological transmutation!" Edward yells at us over his shoulder and we all rush to disembark.

We spent the next hour asking people about the whereabouts of Doctor Marcoh, only to find out, thanks to the Major admittedly skillful drawings, that he was living in this small town as its sole doctor under the aliases of Dr. Maulo. It said by the town folks that he could cure you completely of any aliment with a mysterious flash of light, and for free to boot.

"Can medical alchemy really do that Wilbur?" Alphonse asks me from atop of Major Armstrong's shoulder as we head toward where the doctors supposed to live, and I could see the other two were curious too.

"It's hard to say, since there's hardly enough information out there for me to even make an estimated guess. But judging by some of the illnesses that were suddenly 'cured' by this doctor, I would say that there is some sort of foul play involved. You see, just like any other kind of alchemy the medical kind is governed by the law of equivalent exchange. To use an example, think of a person in a coma, unable to eat or drink to gain the proper nutrients to stay alive. With medical alchemy you can transmute a glass of milk so that the person absorbs the nutrients in it, along with other foods."

"That sound awfully close to human transmutation…"

"Yes, the idea of medical alchemy originated from human transmutation, unfortunately. The difference between them though, is that this alchemy is not meant to change the person's physical body like… The ways we've seen human transmutation used for. No, medical alchemy is used only to help a person and does not induce the harsh consequences that would happen if human transmutation were to both fail or succeed." At those last few sentences the brothers gained dark looks, and I hurried to change the flow of my rant. "Anyway, were getting a bit off topic, there are certain ways to use medical alchemy, like my example earlier, but can you tell me what thing you would have to give in exchange to get rid of the flu, or even a common cold…? No? Exactly. So unless Doctor Marcoh is using some sort of newly found herb that you can medically transmute to heal instantly, or a medical chemical he made himself, there is no plausible reason the doctor should be so quickly healing the aliments that he is." I finish, surprised to find that all three of them were so absorbed in my little speech.

"Of course there is the type of alchemy originated in the country of Xing, which they call Alkahestry or the Purification Arts. I have even less knowledge on that, so for all we know Doctor Marcoh could be using that." I finish with an embarrassed cough, not used to the attention. "Ah, it looks like we have arrived."

Edward broke out of the thoughtful daze he was in, and looked up to the doorway I pointed out. Without further ado the Fullmetal Alchemist ran up to the door like an excited child, the rest of us following at a slower pace. We reach the doorway just as Edward knocked and after waiting there for a full minute, Edward seemed to have finally gotten impatient enough and slowly opened the door himself.

"Hel…lo."

Bam!

"**Uoh**!" "**Ghyaa**!" Edward and I screamed as he went to the side and I went down to avoid the bullet Doctor Marcoh shot at us. I really wish people would stop trying to kill me.

"What did you come here for!?" I hear the Doctor say, but I was too busy covering my head with my arms and kneeling on the ground.

"Please calm down, Doctor."

"Did you come here to take me back!? I don't want to go back there!"

Sensing true fear in his voice I pried myself out of the fetal position I was in to stand up straight and look the doctor in the eye. "We are not here to harm you, sir. We just came for infor-."

"Please! Just leave me alone…" What's with people and interrupting me?

"What the boy said is true. Please listen to what I have to say."

"Then did you come here to silence me by killing me!?"

"First, put down that gu-."

"I won't be fooled!"

"**I said to calm down**!" Major Armstrong yelled as he, to multiple people's horror, threw the vulnerable boxed up Alphonse onto Dr. Marcoh.

* * *

Several minutes later, after I scolded the Major and fixed up Dr. Marcoh, we were all seated around the alchemists table, me almost buzzing with questions to be asked to this knowledgeable man. But just as I was about to start my barrage of questions, I felt the atmosphere get somber and I lost my will to pry as I listened to the sad story of how Marcoh was forced to do horrible experiments in the name of the military. As a fellow medical academic I could probably relate to him the best, mostly due to insight of the things we had to do in my world to other living being to make medical discoveries. But in truth, I think all of us around this table could sympathize with the doctor in our own ways.

"I made the Philosophers Stone." Those words brought me out of my thoughts and I quickly shot a glance at the brothers before intently focusing on Dr. Marcoh. "The research files and a stone is what I brought with me."

"You have a stone?!" Edward asked in surprise just as the Doctor got up to get something from a nearby shelf.

"Yes." He said, and to our confusion he showed us a vial filled with some sort of red substance.

"A 'stone'… Isn't this liquid- HUUUH?!" Edward yelled as Marcoh slowly dumped the vials contents onto the table, only for it to round up into a ball that looked almost solid. As the doctor began explaining the exponents of the stone, I couldn't help but simply stare at it, a bit fascinated but for some reason it also made me feel a slight bit homesick. Maybe because this type of substance, as in something that looks like liquid but feels like a thing of solid matter, is completely unique in this world, but already discovered and research in mine. Maybe it's also because this stone made me feel uneasy for some reason, probably just because the color reminded me of blood.

"Mr. Marcoh, can you show me the research files you took?!" Edward asked the doctor excitedly.

"Me to if you can. I am also highly interested in your work on medical alchemy, if you don't mind sharing a bit about that." I couldn't help but give my two cents at this perfect moment.

"Uhh?! What should I say to them? Major Armstrong, who are these boys…?"

"Edward here is a State Alchemist and Wilbur is a medical researcher at the East City University Medical School."

Marcoh seemed extremely pained at this revelation, mostly about Edward being a military dog. Even after hearing the reasoning on why the brothers needed the stone, Dr. Marcoh still refused the give them the research files. He called it the 'research of the devil' and that 'you'll see the very face of hell'. Edward didn't react well to the last one, and for a single second Marcoh looked like he was about to give in.

"… I can't tell you. Please go home." Was all he said as he turned away from us, an obvious dismissal. In a down trodden mood, we all headed out of the small house and back on our way to the train station. Just before we turned a corner I looked back and I thought I saw the doctor watching us leave, but we turned a corner before I could get a clear enough view.

* * *

I was in a bit of a bratty mood as we waited for the next train. After all, I missed out on some very valuable research material that I may never get a chance to come across again. But realizing that the brothers lost an even bigger chance than me, and that they were taking it so maturely, I kept the battiness to a slight amount of sulking. In moments like this, I can help but admire the Elric brothers for not only their ambition to get their bodies back no matter what, but also their honorable willingness to make sure no one gets hurt for their sake in the progress. In many ways they are much more mature than I'll ever be.

"Hey!" I heard a voice exclaim and we all looked up to see an out breathe Dr. Marcoh approach us, holding an envelope. "… This is the place where the research files are hidden. Look at this if you don't regret knowing the truth and if it's you, you will uncover the truth behind the truth."

"No. I've said too much." The Doctor says with a shake of his head and turns toward me as he pulls out a thick book from his coat. "I cannot answer the questions you want, but this should be close enough, good luck and please use this knowledge wisely." I give him a serious look and nod as I take the book from his hands, already beginning to marvel at it.

"I pray that you will restore you bodies one day." Dr. Marcoh say to the Elric's as he leaves, and I bow along with Edward, extremely grateful for the man's kindness.

"The National Central Library, Tim Marcoh." Edward reads off of the letter that was given to him, about an hour later, as he and Alphonse had gotten impatient.

"So he 'hid a tree in the forest'…" Major Armstrong comments. "The amount within that libraries stock of books is staggering."

"There's a clue about the stone in here." Edward says with barley suppressed excitement.

"Brother, this road isn't a dead end!" Alphonse says with a bit more emotion.

"Yeah." Edward replies with hope filled eyes, and he suddenly turns his head toward me. "What'd he give you?"

I closed the book I was studying and showed them the label that read 'Therapy of Medical Alchemy by Tim Marcoh' with my own barley suppressed excitement showing in my eyes.

"I'll be a very busy person for a while." I tell them with all seriousness in my voice.

"Yes you will." Both brother's reply cheerfully in unison and we all got aboard the train that arrived, with good feelings of what's to come.

* * *

**Chapter done.**

**The stuff I put in here about medical alchemy is information that I created, and if you find it incorrect in any way, please let me know. Next chapter, Will heads to Resembool and a bit more information about the family he lived with will be revealed.**

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter.**

**Cheers,**

**Blunt Arrow**


	7. Home

"Zzzzzzzzzz…."

Poke

"Zzz-zzzzz…"

Poke

"Zzzz- What the-?"

Poke

"Stop that." I grumble, slapping the finger away.

"We're here." Edward grunted back, shaking his now slightly throbbing finger as he pulled away from me. As I blearily rubbed my tired eye's I noted a few other passengers getting off and the Major waiting for us at the door. In the distance I heard someone yelling 'Resembool'.

"Oh, right, sorry" I mumble, a bit embarrassed at my slowness. I quickly picked up 'Therapy of Medical Alchemy' that fell to the floor when I passed out, stuffed it into my book bag, and then proceeded to follow Edward off the train. I'm pretty surprised that I bonked out; usually I couldn't fall asleep like that, even in the most comfortable bed.

By the time Edward and I were able to get off of the train, Major Armstrong was already waiting for us, luggage at his side and Alphonse on his shoulder. "Lead the way, Edward Elric!" He bellowed merrily.

"Ya, ya, follow me." Edward replied roughly, turning away from us to walk ahead, but he wasn't quick enough for me to miss the small smile on his face. He's pretty good at putting on a tough act, but I could tell that he was happy to be back to the place he grew up in. I couldn't help but envy him a bit; I may never have that feeling again.

* * *

While we followed Edward through the beautiful countryside, people who passed by us kept on recognizing the brothers, and stopped them for a chat. Because of this repeatedly happening it took us almost two hours for the atmosphere of the brother's change, hinting to me that the cheery looking house ahead was our destination.

"Hm, aren't you looking lively?" A small old woman with a weird hairdo called down to us.

"Hey, we need your help again, Granny Pinako." Edward called back in reply, and we all picked up our pace a bit. When we finally got to the old lady, Major Armstrong immediately put down Alphonse and I leaned my heavy book bag against the box holding him, while a dog with an automail leg came to greet us.

"This is Major Armstrong and Doctor Wilbur Knot." Edward said, pointing a finger to each person he introduced.

"Pinako Rockbell." The old lady introduced herself, shaking both of our hands. "But in the time you've been gone, Ed got small."

I had to withhold an amused snort at Edwards extremely pissed off face, noting the Miss Rockbell was comparing him to Armstrong, who's freakishly tall, and me, who a good head above Edward.

"**Who did you say was small, mini hag**!?"

"**Oh yeah, ultra short squirt**!"

"**Midget hag**!"

"**Micro squirt**!"

"**Flea-sized hag**!" The short kid and the shorter granny yelled at each other, while the rest of us watched in exasperation.

"**Hey**!** Ed**!"

"**Goff**!" Edward said as a wrench suddenly hit the back of his head, and I swore under my breath as I got my medical equipment. What the frick was with this guy and getting injured?! 'I don't need a doctor' my ass.

"Didn't I tell you to call at least once before you show up for a maintence check!?" A crazy blonde said as Edward yelped at me as I was applying cleaning alcohol to his bleeding head.

"**Winry, you jackass**!" He screamed at the newly named Winry, ignoring my 'stay freaking still' scolding. "**Are you trying to kill me**!?"

"Ahaha!" The pretty girl laughed at the two brothers. "Welcome home!"

"Yeah!"

"I'm home!"

"This may need stitches Edward."

"**Dammit Winry**!"

* * *

I'm thankful for thinking ahead enough to know that the idiot would need a lot of first aid, but I was even more grateful to Miss Rockbell for giving me for sewing thread when I ran out halfway. Edward is not a happy camper, flinching in pain at every stitch I made. One day, I will create painkillers in this world for you, you poor bastard. Then I'll be one rich doctor. I was very surprised when I arrived at the University, only to find out people go through surgery either knocked out, or when they can't do that, awake to bear though the pain. It's because of that, that the chance of surviving surgery is so low in this world. I may know a lot of advanced (compared to here) medical technology, but even I don't have everything memorized, and how to chemically engineer safe analgesic is something I failed to learn. I have been doing as much research as I possibly could, but it's much harder to do that without the internet and I can't ask someone without possibly giving something away.

"Are you done yet?" Edward asks me grumpily as he sat drinking the coffee Miss Rockbell got for him. He was sitting down on a plush chair in the Rockbell's living room with me awkwardly bending over behind him while I stitched thread into his scalp. He had insisted that the wound wasn't bad enough to warrant us going to the Rockbell's operation room where it would have been easier for me to treat him, and when I tried to persuade (threaten) him, with Alphonse's help, he sat down in the chair and stubbornly refused to move. I decided that injuring him more would just mean more work anyways, so I gave in.

"You're lucky that I don't cut your hair to make to process easier."

"… You wouldn't dare."

"Yes I would, so stay still." I warned him as I finished up the mini-surgery with tying the knot, cutting the thread and applying a bandage, just as I heard the Winry girl quickly go down the stairs, heading toward us. Anticipating what will most likely happen, judging from the violent nature she had already displayed, I quickly made my way over to the safety zone that was luggage-Alphonse.

"Whaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Winry Rockbell screamed at the sight of Edwards's lack of automail.

"Oh sorry. It got busted up."

"Busted up, wait one minute! Just how were you using that first-class automail that I had so painstakingly made!?"

"Got totally smashed into little pieces."

I had to look away for a minute while the stiches I 'painstakingly' made got ripped open by another wrench to the head. With a sigh I got up from the corner of the box I was sitting on, ignoring Alphonse's pitying stare, and made my way over the bloody Edward.

"So what happened? Why's Al also busted up?"

"Frick, that hurts!"

"I'll need to pull out all of the old stitches and redo the process, since half of them were ripped off."

"Just what are you guys doing?"

"Winry, you're an ass!"

"Edward, I'll need you to stay still for me, or I may 'accidently' cut you braid off."

Right when I re-started the stitching, Edward cursing me under his breath but otherwise staying still, Miss Rockbell joined us and started looking at Edwards's automail leg. I listened to their conversation but otherwise stayed quiet, since it would have felt like intruding on something private.

"So you want to go to Central as soon as possible to get the files on the philosopher's stone?"

"Yeah, I want to do this, pronto."

"Right, it's not just the arm. Your leg's going to need some adjusting."

"Oh my. You've kind of gotten bigger. The last time we measured you, you were at least-" "Oh no!" "-cm, right?"

"The leg's fine because we still have a base, but we'll have to start from scratch with the arm."

"Huh? So that would take around a week."

"Don't underestimate me. It'll be three days."

"Done." I say after applying another bandage. "Winry Rockbell, may I kindly ask you to not throw any more harmful objects at Edwards head until his stitches have healed in? If you do need somewhere to hit, I recommend the stomach."

"Don't give her beating advice!"

"Sorry about that, I'll try to aim there for a while! By the way, you can call me Winry."

"Very well, you can call me Wilbur then." I tell her politely, a bit pleased that I remembered to drop the formal 'may'. While Winry and I were chatting, Edward had his automail leg pulled out and got it replaced with an aluminum spare and was now practicing walking with the unfamiliar leg.

"Whoops." He said after tripping a bit. "It's pretty hard to walk with a leg I'm not used to."

"After carving, there's assembling, adjusting, connecting and finishing…" Winry mumbled as she counted each thing off with her fingers. "Ack, this is going to take all night."

"Sorry for asking you to do so much." I hear Edward reply guilty as I start packing up my first aid kit.

"You want to go to Central as soon as possible, right?" I look up to see Winry give Edward a confident look, one hand on her hip and another keeping Edward's automail leg on her shoulders steady. "So shouldn't I do as much as I can?"

Is that a blush I see on Edward's face?

"Cause in exchange I'll be getting oodles of cash from you right away." Winry says as she gives Edward a friendly slap on his shoulder, causing him to stumble on his new leg and fall upside-down onto a pile of boxes.

"Oops." Winry says as she sends an apologetic glance my way, but I just sigh and start unloading my first aid kit again, since I suspect that the stitches were reopened. Sure enough a very pissed off Edward was once again, bleeding from the head.

* * *

A half hour later after I had fixed Edward up (again), given both youth, and Alphonse since he just happened to be there, a lecture on how domestic violence was wrong, even if it was the wife being the violent one. The two had protested loudly at being compared to newlyweds, but Alphonse and I both agreed that they resembled a bickering old couple instead. This ensued a ten minute fight filled with yelling, the chucking of many dangerous objects, uncertain alliances and me being pummelled because one, I lack fighting skills, two, my ally Alphonse was crippled and three, Winry is scary with a wrench. When for some reason it became a Winry vs Edward fight, which didn't really make sense to me since they started on the same side, Miss Rockbell had finally intervened to save her living room from being destroyed. She then kicked the brothers outside, claiming that they have too much energy, sent Winry off to work, and gave me a task of chores to do.

I had discarded my coat a while ago, finding that it was too hot for that thick thing, and I am now wearing an apron over top of my light blue dress shirt as wash a pile of dirty dishes, Miss Rockbell working on automail in the background, and the Major off somewhere doing his own list of chores.

"Miss Rockbell?" I ask after the tinkering of metal reminded me of something.

"Just call me Pinako." She replies, not looking up from her work.

"Miss Pinako." I concede partially, since calling an older woman I just met by her first name in an informal fashion, is just plain awkward for me. "May I have a short interview? As a medical researcher I am curious about a few aspects of automail surgery, nerve structure and how they properly connect and communicate, different ways the body takes the-."

I stop short as the sudden outburst of laughter coming from Miss Pinako and I feel a bit of angry pride build in my throat. It always hurts to have your questions and enthusiasm openly mocked.

"Oh don't make that face boy; I'm not making fun of you. I'll give you that interview, and even lend you some books on the subject." Miss Pinako tells me with a chuckle, and I smooth my ruffled feathers. "It nice to see more of today's youth interested in automail. I'm guessing you want to know a bit more about automail maintenance too, being the squirts medic and all."

"I'm interested, but I'm not Edward's medic. I'm just accompanying the brothers for awhile." I say as I wave my hands in a 'no way' fashion.

"Oh really? That's not the feeling I got. What business do you have in Resembool anyways?"

I could feel the realization dawning on my face as I was cursing at myself in my head. In the drama of meeting Dr. Marcoh, receiving the book, and arriving at the Rockbell residence I had totally forgotten about the reason I risked my wellbeing by traveling with those explosive brothers. I immediately whipped off the apron I was wearing, ignoring Miss Pinako's amused stare, and sprinted to the living room where I left my coat and book bag. Or at least I tried.

"Hey Granny, I'm off to visit- Gyoooh!" "Ugh!" Where the yells of Edward and I as he turned the corner to enter to room just as I was about to run around the same corner to leave, resulting in Edward smashing his forehead into my lowered chin. As pain flooded into my injured facial feature, and later my head as I hit the floor, I hear Miss Pinako give a big laugh of amusement in our expense.

"What the fuck?!" I hear Edward say as he scrambled to stand up, but I find myself still a tad to dizzy to reply. Edward scoffs at me and as I get up I hear him tell Miss Pinako that he's going off to visit his mother's grave. As she replies reminding him to bring flowers and to bring the dog with him for safety's sake, a sudden idea strikes me.

"May I come with you?" I hear myself ask suddenly, starting rubbing my bruised chin, but I pause at the looks the two were giving me.

"N-not to intrude on you it's just that the place I came here to visit is on the way to the grave yard and I thought it would be safer and more convenient for us to go together but if your uncomfortable with me coming with you I most definitely understand and I do not wish to disrupt your time of mourning so I will just go later inthemeantimeIwillhelpMissPinako-" I ramble a bit, but get cut off at the two midgets rambunctious laughter. I scowl at them, a bit offended at them laughing at my embarrassment. I then feel myself blush scarlet when I spot Major Armstrong staring at me from outside, Alphonse doing the same on his shoulder, and Winry giggling in the doorway I had just tried to exit through (they must have all come to investigate the screaming). I put my face into my hands, trying in vain to hide both my blush and my mortification.

"It's okay Wilbur." I hear Alphonse trying to reassure me, but there is a define chuckle in his voice. "It's actually kinda nice."

"Nice how?" I grumble, glaring at him through my fingers.

"Well you're actually acting your age for once!" Edward guffaw's at me, but calms down enough to continue. '"You act like some kind of stressed old man, most the time."

"Aren't we leaving?" I answer grumpily, making my way past Winry just as they all chortle at me one last time. I quickly gather my things, shrug on my coat, put my book bag on my shoulder and start to leave, not bothering to wait for Edward. I only give a small wave at the several calls of farewell I receive just as I was about to leave the property, my pride still a bit bruised and the pain on my chin was in not helping my mood in the least.

"Hey! Wait up!" I hear Edward call just as I made my way down the dirt road. I turned back to see him awkwardly running to catch up with me, the dog, Den I think his name was, trotting alongside the Alchemist carrying flowers in his mouth. I immediately slow down, not wanting Edward to strain his leg.

"Geeze, you act more like a grumpy old lady than an old man." He teases me when he finally catches up, and I, feeling my eyebrow twitch in irritation, have to resist the mean urge to trip him. Bruised pride indeed.

* * *

We continue to walk in silence, I really can't tell if it's awkward or not so I ignore it, the only noise being our footsteps, the rustling on clothes, the tinkling of Den's collar and the ever flowing wind. Every once in awhile someone would show up on the same route as us and stop Edward for a chat, forcing him to re-introduce me every time. In one of the lengths of silence I decided that if I bothered to start a conversation it would probably just escalate into an argument anyways. But just as we were nearing both of our destinations, Edward asked the question I was expecting sooner or later.

"So where are you heading anyways?"

"Well-."

"Ah, Edward! You've come back!" We heard a voice up ahead, and we both look up.

"It's been awhile! Hey, who's that with you?"

I give a small wave at two of the people I'm here to visit, and I almost smile at their jaw dropped expressions.

"Will!" Roo, the young boy wearing a bandana and overalls, ran toward me and I gave a small 'oof' at his friendly shove. His father Shrek, a big man wearing a black wife-beater with a towel around his neck, came up grinning beside his son and gave me a pat on the back. The guy didn't know his own strength, since it would have thrown me to the ground if Roo hadn't balanced me.

"Welcome back kid." Shrek says as I glared up at the oaf.

"Wait, how you guys know each other?" Edward said, his head whipping at all of us, looking very confused.

"Family friends?" I say with a shrug as Roo was comparing our heights and Shrek was checking me over, for what, I don't really know.

"Still a weakling huh?" Roo says with a teasing grin, leaning his full weight on me and I feel myself struggling to hold him up.

"Yes well, I wasn't raised on a farm." I say a bit defensively (I seem to be doing that a lot lately), shoving Roo off of me.

"Didn't we tell you to mail us before stopping by Will?" Shrek asks me with a raised eyebrow.

"Sorry Shrek, this was rather last minute." I tell him a tad sheepishly as Roo goes off to greet Den.

"We'll forgive you, only if you come over for dinner!" Shrek says with his bark like laughter.

"Sure, I don't why not." I say, feeling a small tired smile grow onto my face. "Edward, can you tell Miss Pinako to not expect me for dinner?"

"Uh, sure." Edward replies as he stares at me.

"What?" I ask him, smile slipping off my face and feeling a tad uncomfortable.

"Nothing, it just that, this is probably the first time I've seen you smile. Makes you look even more like a tired geezer." I then give them all a dirty look for laughing at that joke.

"Ya, Will's an old stick-in-the-mud. Usually takes a lot more to get even that small thing!" Shrek says after finishing his round of laughter. "By the way Edward, how ya doing? I can tell you're just as small as always!"

"Don't say small!"

"You're still doing that State whatchamacallit?"

They continued to chat for awhile, me deciding not to interrupt them since I have plenty of time to talk to both of the groups but they have little time to talk with each other, until Edward decided it was getting late and he left to finish his visit. Waving goodbye I yell at him to maybe not expect me to go back to the Rockbell's tonight either, since I might just sleep over. After we lost sight of Edward, I went to go help the two herd their sheep back to the farm. We went back in general silence and I'm guessing their going to save the interrogation for the woman of the family. As the farm came in sight, I began to sweat a bit, wishing that I sent a letter ahead, even if it's to just claim I actually did it.

"Welcome home boys! Suppers almost ready, wait, who's that with you- oh my goodness!"

"What's wrong mom? Is that Will?!"

I brace myself for impact a moment too late, and get slammed to the ground by Micron, a young man with short black hair and a worn coat, who gave me a nice tackle hug. The moment I pry myself out of his old and get off, brushing dirt off myself while doing so, only to stumble to the ground again by Shrone, a middle aged blonde woman wearing a bandana and an apron, who gave me an affectionate slap to my back.

"You're back!

"Didn't we tell you to mail us first kid?!"

"Geeze, you guys are barbarians."

* * *

The next day had me shifting between the Selley family and the Rockbell residence, the kids of each household (not including Winry, who's always working obsessively on automail) usually following me for visits. The day was filled with me 'helping', aka being useless and/or pushed around, the Selley's around the farm and doing routine checkups on their sheep flock. Breaks and meal times were spent catching up or me trying to play with the twins (I'm fairly out of shape) and visiting Edward and Alphonse. I ended up spending the next night with them too, trusting Alphonse to make sure the midget doesn't break himself in my absence.

"So you friends with Ed and Al?" Micron questions that evening before we head off to bed, the night before I was due to leave.

"Not really." I reply as truthfully as I can, since I wasn't very sure myself.

"Then you like, their private doctor or something?"

"Most definitely not."

"How'd you meet them and get them to let you tag along?" Roo questions just as curiously.

"That's a long story." I say, and I quickly change the subject before they insist. "Do either of you have a girlfriend yet?"

Two years ago after I left them to get a job at the University, I had finally made enough money to pay them back for the train ride to East City. I had immediately mailed the money off and though that I would probably never hear from the kind folks again. I was very surprised when two weeks later I received a letter from then with the money I sent inside. I remember the letter saying that they couldn't accept the money and that I could repay them by visiting at the next holiday. I then realized that I owed them more than the money I borrowed, they fed me, clothed me, encouraged me and most of all put up with my craziness for an entire month. I had then realized that they had begun to view me as family, like a cousin, albeit a distant one, but still family. I, still in my own way recovering from the whole shock of thing, the prosecution I was receiving at the University and worst of all, the loss of my own family, was extremely touched. Shrek is a friendly man, full of laughter but also gives good advice to a budding 'young man'. Shrone is a tough farm grown woman, raised in a household of men and is now raising a family of men, but is the only female figure I now have in my life. The twins Roo and Micron are bundles or energy and they tell me that there a year older than Alphonse but a bit younger than Edward, so they've been friends with the brothers since they were babies. They don't know it, but I initially learnt the basics of being a boy from them. Together this family gave me a place to come back to in this new unfamiliar world, a stable ground to keep me sane. They have never prodded on why I ended up like I did, why I cut my hair and burnt my original clothes or even how I learnt all I did about medical things. They just accept me the way I am and keep their door open for me. I'm a naturally distant person (both emotionally and physically) at best, it's hard for me to make friends let alone keep them, so the best I could do show my gratitude is mail them when I can and visit two or three times a year. Not much, but I try. Plus, I know that I can't get too close to them, for both of our sakes.

"You sure we don't need to see you off at the train station?"

"There's no need Micron, I know you have work to do."

"Be sure to eat, sleep and exercise more! You'll be as short as Edward if you keep mistreating your body!"

"Shrone I'm a certified doctor, I know how to take care of myself."

"How come none of us believe that..."

"You're a jerk Roo."

"Bwahahaha! Good luck keeping up with those brothers!"

"I'll try Shrek. I'll mail you all in a few weeks! Goodbye!"

"Bye Will!"

"Good luck doing your doctor stuff!"

"Stay safe!"

"Don't let an old lady mug ya!"

With a last wave I head to the Rockbell Residence, leaving the kind Selley family till I can visit again. I now understand the feeling the brothers get to have a place to go back to, where you're always welcomed with open arms and a warm meal. I can also relate to them in the idea to never having an original home to go back to. The family had filled me in to what happened to not only the Elric's, but the Rockbell's too. The brothers burnt the place they called home down, so they could never truly go back, while I was worlds away from my home with no idea how to get back. All of us also have a general lack of direct parental figures, so we can relate to each other. Not that I can ever tell them of course.

* * *

I later find myself standing beside a sweating Edward, preparing himself for the reconnecting of his automail. Miss Pinako told me to watch for practical learning reasons. Earlier during my stay both of us wheedled in enough time for the interview I was hoping for, and I no longer regret making an embarrassment of myself. The information I was able to get out of her is extremely fascinating and very useful. The medical alchemy project I dropped has been gleaming in my mind ever since the 'Tucker Incident', as I have been calling it in my head, is now fully rearing its head with the discoveries that I have been able to de-code from 'Therapy of Medical Alchemy' and the new knowledge I have gained about automail from Miss Pinako. I almost let her in on what my project is about, but I had stopped myself. It is still theory; I shouldn't get anyone's hopes up until I have at least a bit of legitimate ground to stand on.

"Ready? We'll start."

"One."

"Two."

"Three."

"Gheeeh!"

As I watch the connecting of nerves I zone out the conversation that they were having to take some notes and check the book Miss Pinako lent me, along with a few others, on the medical aspect of automail. Being around the brothers is almost worth it, if not just for the amount of research material that I'm gaining.

"All set!" I then look up at Miss Pinako's statement to see a fully functional automated Edward Elric. "How is it?"

"Feels good." Edward replies as he stretches, looking very rejuvenated.

"I figure you're going to skip out on daily maintenance anyway, since you are like that. The steel that you're using now had its chrome ratio and is more rust resistant. In exchange the strength is lowered so don't..." At that long tangent Edward runs off in his full underwear glory to his brother, leaving poor Winry hanging. "**Hey, listen up**!"

"Just give me all of the instruction Winry." I tell her with a sweat drop, since I could just hand them to Alphonse later.

"Thanks Wilbur, you're an automail lifesaver." Winry says, going into partial 'automail mode' while writing down what looks to be detailed instructions. A few minutes of writing later she pauses. "... Look after them for us, will you?"

I hesitated a bit at that, and just as I was about to tell her my plans, we heard the clashing of metal and quickly made our way to the balcony. There, to my annoyance, I saw that the newly rebuilt brothers decided it was very smart to strain themselves right after requiring their limbs, not even giving their brains enough time to properly process the change.

"Winry?"

"Um, yes?" Winry says nervously in response to my slightly dangerous tone.

"May I borrow your wrench?"

A moment later I had made my way downstairs toward where the brothers were sparing, and I started to plan my approach.

"**The I shall also hel**-!"

_Bam_!

They all paused as a wrench went flying past them, getting stuck into a tree not too far away. I barely missed Edwards face and the Major's stomach. They all paled in unison (I have no idea how I could tell Alphonse got paler).

"**Winry what the hell**-?" Edward starts to say but stops when he sees me in a throwing position, and I could tell that there is probably a dark aura around me.

"Everyone." I say in a sweet tone, straitening up and putting on a very fake, strained smile. "I recommend that you wait to spar until the brothers are fully recovered from the sudden re-gaining of their limbs."

"But Wilbur-."

"I insist."

"We need to train-."

"You can do that later."

"I'm sure-."

"Listen." I say dangerously, suddenly wiping the smile off my face and putting on a scowl, channeling my inner angry female. "As a doctor I know where to hit where it hurts the most."

They decided to listen to me after that.

* * *

The next day it was time for us to leave and I found myself impatiently waiting for everyone to finish packing and leave. My mind ended up drifting to when last night Major Armstrong and I, on our way to check up (read as bug) Edward, ended up eavesdropping on a private conversation. I had immediately wanted to leave, but the Major was to touch by what they were saying that he ending up using me as some sort of teddy bear as he cried sparkly Armstrong tears for them, rendering me immobile. At least I learnt a bit more about the brothers, but that didn't stop me from feeling guilty for a whole five minutes. I jump out of my daydreaming when I noticed everyone else joining me and had started saying their goodbyes.

"Thanks for taking care of us, Granny."

"Yes, thank you very much. I'll be sure to take good care of the books you have loaned me and return them during my next visit to Resembool."

"Right, don't worry about it."

"Huh, where's Winry?" Alphonse says, noticing the absence of the youngest resident mechanic.

"Still sound asleep since she stayed up the whole night. Want me to wake her up?"

"Nah, it's okay, it's okay." Edward says with a dismissal wave. "She'd blab on and on about taking care of the automail properly or something like that if she got up and came here."

Speaking of that I still have to give Alphonse those instructions...

With that thought and a few final goodbye and remarks we made our way down the road, only to be stopped by a call.

"Ed! Al! See you later." A sleepy looking Winry said as she waved goodbye, and I give a half hearted wave back.

* * *

When we arrive at the train station, which took longer than we thought due to people stopping us to chat on the road again, we found that we were late, so we had to rush to catch our trains. When the brothers and Major Armstrong boarded their already moving train, I was about to say my, hopefully, final farewells, when I remembered something.

"Wait!" I yell out in panic, the automail instructions in one hand, the other reaching out to my suitcase the Major was currently holding. The trains was steadily getting faster and soon I was out of reaching distance, and even though I was worried about them not having the instructions, I was at least grateful that they could just simply throw my suitcase out.

"Don't worry Wilbur Knot, I will get you!" Armstrong yelled out suddenly and to my, the brothers, the onlookers and the train passenger's great surprise he jumped off of the fast moving train, and to my horror he didn't grab the piece of paper, he grabbed me.

I found myself under his armpit and almost chocking on his sparkles and roses and he ran fast as he could to catch up to the train, which had nearly reached the edge of the platform. I thought (hoped) that we would be too late, but to my agony, and everyone else's awe, in seemingly slow motion the Strong-Armed Alchemist gave an epic but graceful jump off the edge of the plat form, filled with sparkles, roses, a pleased looking Armstrong, me almost crying and looking as if I was either going to barf or piss my pants.

Armstrong made a smooth landing on the last part of the train, and bent down to deposit a very pale, sweaty, shaken me. The brothers had run to the end of the last car to join us, Edward's jaw was almost touching the ground in surprise and Alphonse's armor was rattling from how much he was shaking in fear for us. After a beat of silence most of the train, many of them had been leaning out of their windows to watch, gave Armstrong a thunderous applause. The Major just bashfully rubbed the back of his head and gave a bow, while I took that time to deposit my breakfast off the side of the train.

"Sonofafreaking..." I grumble under my breath as I get a handkerchief to clean my mouth. I then realize the worst part of this situation.

"**Ahhhh**! **I was supposed to board the train to go back to East City**!" I say as I fell to my knees, my hands on my head in agony. The three beside me (especially Armstrong) suddenly looked very guilty.

"You-you never mentioned that!"

"I thought that you were brother's medic…"

"My deepest apologies Wilbur Knot."

"Fuck it, whatever. I'll be traveling with you awhile longer then." I say grumpily as I make my way over to our presumed seats, ignoring the gawking of fellow passengers and the shame filled nods of my traveling companions.

I'm not the type to believe in fate, but something (that may or may not sparkle) definitely wants me to keeping traveling with these explosive, troublesome brothers.

If I was still religious, I would pray for my sanity.

* * *

**I hope the last part was funny enough for all of you. Just to let you know, for Will's expressions, he never smiles unless it specifically says he does. He's an uptight guy.**

**The Selley family does exists in the FMA world, they're just never named, so I used them to my advantage. I named them myself, but got each one from sheep shearing, and they appear in Chapter 9 and 23 in the manga. The two boy's heights kept on changing, so I made them twins.**

**Slept on this chapter after I posted it and noticed a lot of mistakes, but hopefully a few of them are fixed. I realize that I probably need a Beta, so if anyone wants to volunteer, I would be very grateful.**

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter.**

**Cheers,**

**Blunt Arrow**


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